Slasher
by RTraylor77
Summary: Horror movies are so full of clichés nowadays that they're predictable and rarely scary. But what happens when your life magically turns into one and your friends slowly start dying off one by one? Raven and Robin find out the answer to that question the hard way when they're somehow thrown into a classic horror movie whodunit during a fight with Red X. Slightly AU. Mainly RobRae.
1. Home Alone

_**A/N: First off, thank you for giving my story a chance :) If you finish reading and choose to review, please let me know whether or not you think I should keep the T rating or change it to M. There shouldn't be any hardcore swearing, drinking, etc. but just tell me what you think! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the "classic" opening scene. Thanks :)**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, movies, etc.**

 **1\. Home Alone**

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All Hallow's Eve. October 31st. Or as some like to call it, _Halloween_. When most people think of it, they picture kids in cheesy, over the top witch, devil, and princess costumes screaming _trick or treat_ to random strangers. Some use it as an excuse to be someone else for a day or to indulge in all their favorite Halloween sweets like candy corn and caramel apples. Others like to acknowledge it for its seemingly true, evil, spirit-churning background. So, they attempt things like séances and Ouija boards.

Then, there are people like young, seventeen-year old Terra Markov, whose favorite part of the day was lounging back on the couch, popping popcorn, eating all of the leftover trick or treat candy, and binge watching all of the horror movies on Netflix. She wasn't much of a people's person so dressing up in a slutty leotard, black fishnets, and a kitty headband and being sexually harassed and catcalled all night at a tasteless, high school, Halloween party wasn't exactly her idea of fun. In fact, there was no better way to spend Halloween night than cozying up with your favorite blanket and scaring yourself to sleep.

But this year was a little different. A part of her almost wished she was surrounded by friends or at least her new foster parents, who were partying themselves away at their neighbor's home. After Beast Boy from the Teen Titans had tried so hard to convince her that she was one of them, she'd been having dreams about her soaring through the sky on flying rocks and controlling the earth with her hands and basically feeling invincible. She had even felt herself being in love with the green, shapeshifting teen as they shared the moonlight on a deserted Ferris Wheel in the middle of the night and skipped rocks from the shore of the bay.

But those dreams were rare. Nightmares were what mostly populated her mind each night. Horrible images of her betraying the Titans with an empty-hearted, death-ridden man named Slade plagued her nights. She was slowly beginning to think this Slade guy's heart and mind was as robotic as the armor that covered his body. He was inhuman and ruthless. He had slowly tricked her into believing she could never be worthy or good enough to be a hero and manipulated her heart into an icicle as subzero as his.

Yet, the nightmares featuring Slade still hadn't been the worst of all. That title had been given to the one she'd had the night before. Last night, she had witnessed her own suicide. She had seen herself using her own powers to end her life while simultaneously saving the lives of her former friends. She knew death was inevitable but to witness her own was unfathomable. She could never view the world the same again. In her vision, dying felt cold and lonely. Empty and like her soul never existed. Thinking about a world where you never existed was frightening to say the least. And thinking of a world where you'd never exist again was endless terror and uneasiness.

 _Ring, ring_. "Ah!" Terra jumped out of her thoughts from the vibration of her cell phone. She was currently watching _Scream_ , so any sudden noise or movement, especially from a phone was unwelcomed.

She looked down at the screen and noticed there was no contact picture or number. In fact, all it said was _Unknown_. The bottom of the screen gave her the option to accept or decline the random call. Her smart conscious told her to decline. This wasn't 1996 or a Scream movie. It was twenty years later which thankfully meant she had caller ID, so if she didn't want to answer, she didn't have to.

However, her bored and lonely heart told her to touch the green _accept_. What harm could it do? It wasn't like the person knew her location. In fact, it was probably just one of her friends from her new school pranking her because she skipped the party. This was probably their way of scaring her enough to force her out of the house. They wanted her to be social and fun, but she was the exact opposite. She was used to being alone and awkward. Yet, she knew she'd have to change eventually, so she decided to play along.

She slowly reached her thumb to the bottom right side of her screen, but before she could click it, the call disappeared. She let out a relieved sigh. Now, she didn't have to worry about whether or not she was making a dumb decision.

 _Ring, ring!_ Before she could even get fully relaxed, the ringer went off again, making her almost drop the device. Somehow this time it seemed much louder. She closed her bright blue eyes and took a few deep breaths in order to stay calm. There was nothing to be scared of.

Then, on an impulse, she answered the phone with a shaky voice, "Hello?"

" _Hello, Sidney_ ," a sinister voice replied with a snicker.

Terra almost dropped the phone from shock, but then remembered her name wasn't Sidney. She glanced back at her family's television and saw Sidney herself was also on the phone, which meant the person on the other end of her line hadn't replied yet.

"Hello!" This time she screamed with annoyance. "Is anyone there?"

"May I speak to Terra?" A loud, masculine voice suddenly blared through the speaker. He sounded desperate and anxious, like his life depended on speaking to her.

"This is she," Terra replied a little calmer. Now, she was sure it was just one of her friends pulling her foot. "Who am I speaking to?"

Out of nowhere, the voice turned more sinister and teasing like Ghostface's. The stranger let out a barely audible chuckle and answered, "Let's just say an old friend."

"Well," Terra started harshly and pulled a string of her long, blonde hair nervously, "what do you want?"

"That's no way to talk to a friend, Terra," the voice pestered with another heartless chortle. "I just want to talk."

Terra folded her arm under the elbow of the one holding the phone and hugged herself closer. "Okay…about what?"

"Movies," he replied swiftly and simply.

Terra rolled her large, baby blue eyes at that and plopped back on the soft, blood red sofa of her new living room. She picked up the remote and made the volume a little louder. She'd seen the movie probably over a hundred times yet it was still more entertaining than whoever was currently on the phone with her.

"Oh yeah?" she finally said back and picked up a popped kernel out of her large bowl of popcorn. "I'm watching a movie right now." And with that, she tossed the piece in her mouth.

" _Scream_ ," the voice said delicately, but there was nothing sweet about it.

Terra dropped the handful of popcorn in her palms back into the bowl. The ones already in her mouth slowly fell out when she asked, "How'd you know that?"

The person cackled at her fear and answered, "I can hear it in the background. It's one of my favorites."

Terra nodded to herself matter-of-factly and tossed more popcorn into her mouth. _Duh_ , he could hear it in the background with as loud as she had made the TV. That should've been obvious.

"Why is it your favorite?" she continued to play along.

Then, the voice responded bluntly, "Because it influenced me to be who I am today."

The blonde teen shot up in her seat. Did he just admit to being a murderer? She wasn't exactly sure if it was her friends anymore. Truthfully, whoever it was, was really starting to creep her out. She'd almost rather be talking to her creepy, ex-father figure, Slade. At first, it was fun to play along, but now whoever it might be was taking it way too far.

In all honesty, she was completely speechless. She had no idea what to say. And before she could muster up something, the voice spoke again. "What's your favorite movie?"

Terra let out a tired sigh. She had to stay calm or she'd just end up giving the person what he wanted. The person was clearly just trying to scare her, but she wasn't going to let him succeed that easily. She was tougher than that. She used to be able to move the earth for Pete's sake.

" _Home Alone_ ," she remarked and turned the volume back down. The loud horror music wasn't exactly what she needed to be hearing right now. It only managed to freak her out more.

The sinister voice laughed a hearty laugh which actually caused a small smile to grace Terra's face. With a laugh like that, this person couldn't truly be evil. "What's your favorite scene?" he asked.

"Um," Terra started with a finger to her chin, then a lightbulb went off in her head. "This is probably typical, but when he puts that aftershave on his face and lets out that painful scream. Gets me every time!"

Out of nowhere, the voice was deadly and blood-curling once again, "What if I told you I could make you scream the same way?"

Terra blinked a few times and cautiously looked around the room. The moment he said that it was like a sudden feeling of realization washed over her. She no longer felt like she was home alone. In fact, she was pretty sure there was another presence inside the large, two-story house.

"I'd say who is this really?" she shouted into the receiver and jumped out of her once comfortable seat. She turned her body 360 degrees, checking every corner and open area from her place in front of the couch. There was no way this person was going to scare her.

"I told you an old friend," he teased and let out a loud cackle.

Terra brushed her long, blonde locks nervously with her free hand and sprinted to the kitchen. She checked every corner, every cabinet, behind the refrigerator, even inside the oven for an intruder. However, it was seemingly empty and she even began to feel like she was overreacting. But she was smart and knew it was better to be safe than sorry.

She rushed over to the knife rack, but somehow every knife except the butter knife was missing out its slot. She ran over and frantically searched the utensil drawer, but there were still no knives to be found. Her last option was the dishwasher. She opened it only to see not one dish in the machine.

Her body slowly began to tremble from anxiety. _Why didn't she pause that damn movie?_ It was giving her unnecessary fear and body tremors with its suspenseful music and loud screams. Not to mention, the house was eerily quiet everywhere else. Not even the voice on the phone was speaking, but she could swear she heard the constant rhythm of the person's breath.

"Hello?" she cautiously called and leaned back on the counter. She was panting heavily but there was no way her breathing would slow now.

" _I see yoooouuuu_!" the voice sang mockingly; it sent instant shivers up Terra's spine.

Her heart halted as she looked around the room once again, but there was no one in sight. She raised the blinds to the window above the sink but there was no one outside except the people partying at the neighbors' house. She quickly turned back around to make sure no one had suddenly popped up. This person had to be just messing with her, but there was no way she was going in any other room by herself.

"I'll have you know I'm friends with the Teen Titans. All I have to do is call and they'll come take you down!" she screamed into the receiver, grasping the phone as tightly as she could. She knew all she had to do was hang up the phone, but a part of her felt like she would regret it if she did. There was no way the person could sneak up on her while talking to her.

The voice let out his signature snicker and remarked, "Silly child. I could demolish the Titans with the flick of my finger."

"Go to hell!" she retorted back. It was all she could think of as tears ran down her soft, round face. "What do you want from me?"

"I'll end this call if you answer one more question." Terra tried to calm down once more. The voice sounded sincere in that last statement; it almost proved that it was just someone doing this to her for their own entertainment.

"O-okay," she stuttered and wiped her tears with her free hand, "what is it?"

"Isn't it ironic how Randy doesn't know the killer's behind him?" This time the voice sounded fuzzy like he was losing his signal or his phone was acting up. Serves him right.

Terra glanced at the small view of the television she had from the kitchen. The character on the movie was relaxing on the couch watching another classic horror movie. He was screaming at the character on his screen to run because her movie's killer was behind her, but unbeknownst to him, the killer in his world was also behind him.

Then, realization hit Terra like a bat smacking a baseball out of field. His voice hadn't been fuzzy because his phone was acting up; it was fuzzy because his voice had been echoing through her receiver!

"How is it iro…nic," she slowly began while at the same time bit by bit turning her head to the side.

It didn't take a genius to know that there was someone behind her. Before she could run, the stranger yanked her by her hair and pulled her into a chokehold. She squirmed and scratched as much as she could but the intruder's body was covered in a black robe similar to Ghostface's. She wanted to scream out for help to the party guests she could see through the blinds, but the moment her lips parted her neck was met with cold sharpness.

"Please!" she begged for her life, but it came out low and harsh due to his firm grip around her neck.

Suddenly, she felt a bolt of adrenaline run through her. She elbowed the criminal in his gut causing him to drop his hold. She took off faster than her ex-Titan friend, Kid Flash, and scurried towards her front door. Soon as she opened the door, she quickly glanced back to see how close the killer was. But to her surprise, he was gone.

"What the?!" she screamed nervously and looked around again. She slowly backed out of her front door with her back facing the outside world. There was no possible way he could disappear that fast.

' _Unless,'_ she thought and looked at the side door in the kitchen. It was wide open.

Suddenly, without warning, she felt cold, sharp metal piercing through her clothes and digging into her back. The killer had dragged a butcher knife from the bottom of her right shoulder to the lower left side of her back. Terra let out a deafening scream as she fell face forward into the foyer of her home. She barely felt the pain, but she surely heard the cold, blank sound of death calling her name. Yet, there was no way she was giving up this easily.

She could feel the presence of the knife coming close to her back once again. She quickly rolled out of the way, causing the killer to stab the knife right through the wooden floor. She watched as he struggled to pull the weapon out the tough wood and took it to her advantage. She picked up one of the heavy, marble-filled, glass vases lining the entrance and wacked him upside the noggin. She didn't even take a second to see if it'd knocked him out.

Quickly, she took off running through the door and down the steps of her porch as fast as she could with such a deep, fresh wound in her back. She could feel and almost smell the thickness of the blood pouring down her back under her thick, cozy sweater. The thick, cozy sweater she was supposed to be falling asleep in at this very moment. But instead here she was fighting for her life.

As she walked further and further away from her home, she realized she wasn't walking very far at all. Her vision was hazy and she felt extremely woozy. In fact, she suddenly had no idea what was going on anymore. She didn't know who she was or where she was. All she knew was she was beginning to tumble to the ground.

Unfortunately for her, all of the party guests had found their way back inside the party. And the ones who were still prancing around outside were too drunk to notice her. And to make matters worse, it was way too late for anyone to still be trick or treating, so there were no more strays on the street.

Then, out of nowhere, a figure in a black robe and frightening white mask hovered over her, making her remember exactly what was going on. But before she could react, the figure raised his arm showing off the bloody, sharp knife in his hand. He wasted no time bringing it down to her chest and stabbing her in the heart over and over again.

Terra's ability to move disappeared with each puncture of her body. Tears ran down her face in puddles and soon turned red as the blood from her wounds splattered and mixed with their saltiness.

' _This is it,'_ she cried to herself inside. She'd never be able to admit to Beast Boy that she remembered. She'd never have the chance to be a Titan or anything else but a memory ever again.

She never thought she'd be able to feel her breath leaving her body or the actual breaking of her heart. After watching so many horror movies, she always assumed if she was ever in their position she'd fight as long as she could. As long as she was breathing, she'd be fighting. But she was beginning to realize that in reality, you never knew how you would react to such frightening, life or death situations, and you never knew just how quickly you'd give up.

 _Until it happened to you_. And now here she was, slowly succumbing to the icy, lonely abyss of death.

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It was a quiet, serene morning in Titans Tower as Robin slipped out of his pajamas and into his traffic light-colored uniform. He knew the silence would soon disappear as it was only present because he was the only one awake at this hour. Moments later, Beast Boy and Cyborg would be fussing over who makes the best breakfast, Starfire would be laughing and giggling about some unknown holiday on her planet, and Raven's tea kettle would be going off, signaling the finished product.

And while all of them were going through their normal routine, he'd be following up with any important news or leads he might've missed overnight. Then, they'd all go on to their various activities of the day. Beast Boy would probably play video games with random strangers over the internet, Cyborg would probably be working on his latest invention, Starfire would most likely be painting her nails or dancing around to happy music, Raven would either be reading a long novel or meditating, while Robin would still be obsessing over criminals. Eventually, the alarm would go off, and they'd go off to fight whatever villain decided to interrupt their lives, they'd win the fight, throw the villain in a cell, and go on about their day. Needless to say, it would be a usual day in Titans Tower.

At least, that's what Robin believed when he woke up that morning. But little did he know, that was far from the truth. And he would discover that very soon.

"Dude, tofu has just as many proteins as fish," Beast Boy attempted to sway Cyborg into eating the manufactured meat he had prepared for the team despite the fact that he was the only one who ever actually ate it.

Cyborg's face twisted in disgust as the odor of the fake meat filled his nostrils. "Man, no one wants that. Dog food looks more appetizing." And with that, he walked over to the dining table and began digging into his plate full of fish and grits.

"Actually," Beast Boy began with a raise of his finger, "dog food's pretty good."

Robin sighed as he poured his freshly made, black coffee into his favorite, red, Robin-logoed mug. He took a sip and almost burned his tongue with the scorching hot liquid. He didn't know what made him try to drink the steaming beverage. Maybe it was the urging desire to be fully awake and away from Cyborg and Beast Boy's constant, brotherly arguments.

"Good morning, Friends!" Starfire's lively energy suddenly burst through the automatic doors that led to the living area. She immediately floated over to the two sibling-like Titans and greeted them with an enormous, warm smile. "It is such a glorious day is it not?"

"Uh, yeah, whatever you say, Star," Beast Boy uttered before stuffing a mouth full of vegan eggs in between his sharp teeth.

"Morning, Star," Robin added as he walked over to the trio. He stood next to the redhead, causing her to blush with giddiness and asked, "Where's Raven? She's usually the second one up."

"Probably somewhere being mean and creepy as usual," Beast Boy joked and took a sip of his bright orange juice.

"Friend Raven has been better since defeating her father, no?" Starfire asked next. She had long ago noticed Raven's efforts to be more social and less standoffish ever since overcoming the reign her demonic father, Trigon, had on her powers and emotions. However, she was still learning how to control her powers and prevent them from going haywire, so Star wasn't quite sure their friends had noticed her efforts as well.

"Yeah, she has," Robin replied after a minute. He had noticed her tiny but meaningful tries as well and was patiently awaiting the day the violet-haired teen would be fully comfortable being herself around the team. He knew it would take some time, but he was willing to help her along the way if she just let him.

"She has what?" A monotone voice suddenly startled the four. They all slowly turned their heads towards the door to see a blue-hooded figured making her way towards them.

"Uhh," Robin started nervously, causing BB and Cy to laugh at his obvious fear.

"We were just talking about how happy you've been since defeating your father," Starfire exaggerated with her hands happily clasped in front of her.

Raven smirked and continued into the kitchen to prepare her daily tea. "Different, yes? Happy, not exactly."

This threw Robin for a loop. As leader of the team, it was his job to make sure all of his teammates were at least content and comfortable in their skin. How could you be a hero to others when you yourself needed saving? Not to mention, he really cared about his friends, and his happiness depended on their happiness.

"You aren't happy, Raven?" he questioned cautiously, but his communicator went off before the dark teen could answer, even though she probably would've just given him the run around anyway.

The ebony-haired leader glanced down at the screen of his communicator and saw Bumblebee's usually fearless face looking lost and confused. "How's everyone doing?" she asked gently. It was almost as if she was scared everyone would fall apart just from hearing her question.

"We're all pretty great," Robin immediately replied and snuck a quick peep at Raven's droopy figure sipping her tea. Well, at least most of them were great.

Bumblebee raised an eyebrow but kept the sad tone in her voice, "How's Beast Boy taking it? Everyone's pretty depressed and speechless over here."

Robin eyed Beast Boy for an explanation but he just hunched an unknowing shoulder. "What do you mean how's he taking it? What's wrong? What's going on?"

"You haven't heard?" the light brown-eyed teen was clearly in disbelief as she left her mouth agape. Robin swallowed a large gulp of panic and shook his head side to side. "Turn on the news. It's being broadcasted everywhere."

Robin nodded to the girl on the screen and motioned for Cyborg to turn on the large television. All of the Titans slowly maneuvered towards the couch as Cyborg searched for the first news channel he could find. Needless to say, it didn't take long.

 _Plop!_ The remote sounded off as it fell from Cyborg's large, mechanical hand and into the glass coffee table before plummeting to the ground. Starfire's tall, lean body came next as she fainted to the floor, almost hitting her head on the arm of the sofa; Cyborg immediately ran over to see if she was okay. Raven couldn't manage to do anything but remove her hood and reach over to grab Beast Boy's trembling hand. Robin was completely motionless and wordless standing behind the sofa that held a crying Beast Boy and a shaken Raven.

And this was all because at the bottom of the television screen read: _Breaking News: Former Teen Titan Brutally Murdered_. Above that banner was a recent school picture of a bright, blue-eyed, blonde-haired, smiling Terra in her schoolgirl uniform. On the other side of that picture was Terra in her fighting days on top of a rock in her signature cropped, black, turtleneck and form-fitting, yellow shorts with her soft blue eyes hiding behind her favorite goggles.

"No!" Beast Boy suddenly roared as he jumped from the couch. He frantically picked the remote up from the ground and began flicking through the channels, only to see the same news story with just different pictures and reporters. "This can't be true."

"BB," Cyborg eased slowly as he slowly stepped towards him, "calm down. It's going to be okay. Just give me the remote."

"No!" Beast Boy bellowed and jerked away from the taller, half metal teen. He continued flipping through the channels, but finally stopped when he saw one news station broadcasting an old photo of him and the blonde. Her smile was still infectious even through the sudden pain he was enduring, but the joy from seeing it didn't last long as he remembered he'd never see it in person again.

Raven stood up next and made an attempt at being empathetic. "Beast Boy, we're here for you. Terra wouldn't want you to lose it."

"How would you know?" he shouted in her face, making her take a fearful step back in her blue, ankle booties. "You never liked her anyway! You were probably glad she was dead before and you're probably glad she's dead for good this time!"

Raven gasped quietly, appalled that he would think so badly of her. She knew he loved Terra but it was common knowledge that he had a never-ending crush on her as well. "Beast Boy, Terra was my friend, too," she uttered angrily with balled fists.

"Why don't you go back to hell with your father?" he retorted before throwing the remote at one of the ceiling high windows of the tower.

He turned to storm out of the room but was caught by Robin's strong, protective arms. He tried to fight out of his grip, but it was no use. There was no way Robin was going to let him suffer through this alone.

"Beast Boy, it's okay to cry," Robin mumbled and looked at Raven and Cyborg. "That goes for you two, too. I think it's obvious we're all hurt by this. But the great thing is we're a team, and we're going to help each other survive through this difficult mourning period. Because that's what friends and family do, and I refuse to let this send any of us into a spiraling hell."

"You're right," Cyborg agreed with a nod and glanced at Starfire's motionless body that was now lying on the couch. This was all too much for him to comprehend right now.

"I agree," Raven finally whispered with her violet eyes lowered to the ground as well.

Robin looked down at the bawling Beast Boy in his arms. "Beast Boy?"

"Whatever you say, Robin," the green changeling mumbled and finally pulled away from the boy, this time succeeding in storming out of the room.

Robin held up his communicator and noticed Bumblebee was still waiting for him to respond to her. She had been softly crying as well as she listened to her Westside teammates' reactions to the news. Everyone was truly filled with nothing but hurt and pain.

"Raven and Cy, get Star to the infirmary. Make sure she's okay," Robin ordered to his emotionally stronger teammates, then turned back to an anxious Bee. "Bumblebee, I need you to help me get every Titan and honorary Titan to Jump City ASAP. We're going to do all it takes to solve this murder if it's the last thing we do."


	2. Nightmare on Elm Street

_**A/N: Hi, guys. Sorry for not uploading sooner. Fanfiction for some reason hasn't been sending me notifications, so I didn't know about the reviews or anything. Which btw thank you for the reviews! Hopefully, I can keep your attention. I forgot to mention that this is (probably obvious to you now) set after the last episode, Things Change. Unfortunately, Terra had to die in the "real world" for the opening scene to work lol I picked her because she actually did die in the show, so it wouldn't be too farfetched. Anyway, I don't know how this chapter is. Its only purpose is to set up the alternate universe, so I hope you enjoy even if it's boring. I'll probably upload the next chapter much sooner. Thanks for reading!**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans :)**

 **2\. Nightmare on Elm Street**

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"The floral arrangements were most beautiful," Starfire said later that week as all of the Titans and Honorary Titans flocked inside the tower after Terra's citywide funeral. "And it was nice of the city to pay for the services."

The redhead was the only one who had spoken after the event and it was only because she was trying her hardest to stay positive. So, she had been voicing every good thing she could think of about the funeral since they paid their last respects to the fallen hero for the second time. However, the day was rainy, the sky was gray, and the wet weather had caused the nice, warm autumn temperatures of the previous days to drop. The glum weather only furthered everyone's sadness. Therefore, no matter how hard Starfire tried, none of them could really see the light in the situation.

"Starfire, please," Beast Boy whimpered softly as he fell back onto the sofa of the common room which everyone was lingering around lazily, "stop being happy."

"She's just trying to stay optimistic, BB," Cyborg said in an understanding voice. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah, well, sorry if I'm not feeling very optimistic right now," Beast Boy spat and glared at all of the teammates that had the courage to look at him. "I'm going to the training room. Don't bother to stop me." And with that, he stomped up the steps to the automatic doors and vanished behind them.

A softly crying Starfire slowly floated over to Robin and asked innocently, "Robin, do you think Beast Boy will ever smile again?"

Robin attempted to sigh quietly, but was still heard by everyone. With as hard as Beast Boy was taking it, he wasn't exactly sure himself. "In due time, Star. In due time."

"Soooo," Kid Flash dragged randomly, causing everyone to look at him. He immediately flashed a nervous, white-toothed smile which usually meant he was about to say something dumb.

"What is it, Kid Flash?" Robin asked with his arms folded across his dressy, white button-down and red tie.

Kid Flash rubbed the back of his stiff neck and let out a chuckle, "I hate to be that person, but did anyone happen to cook before the funeral? I'm starved."

Everyone rolled their eyes and groaned at his lack of sympathy. And, then as if on cue, half of their stomachs growled signaling the fact that they were all starving as well.

"Why, yes, Friend Kid Flash!" Starfire screamed in delight, dried tears staining her angelic face, and flew over to the blue-eyed redhead. "I have prepared enough _blgornkak_ for everyone! It is my home planet's dish for grief, and it is traditional when we lose someone important to our clan."

Kid Flash let out another nervous chuckle as he eyed his other teammates' now angry faces. Eating something Starfire cooked would just lead to them having to attend more funerals.

"Uh, that's okay, Starfire," he assured her and rubbed his stomach to show that he was well fed, "I'm suddenly not hungry anymore."

"How about we just order pizza? That's the only good thing I remember about Jump," Speedy offered and removed his red blazer from his sweaty, hot body. With all the body heat going around, the tower was much warmer than usual and everyone was slowly starting to notice.

"Yeah, good idea. As long as you get a cheese for me and BB," Aqualad added and turned to the two leaders in the room for their response.

Bumblebee was silent, standing under Cyborg for comfort. She hadn't said much since the funeral as she was still shaky and quite sad as well. She just couldn't believe something so horrific had happened to one of them. Granted, Terra didn't have her powers anymore, but _still_ …she was once a Titan. A superhero. They were always supposed to be stronger and better against the villains. They were _never_ supposed to let them win.

"Yeah, pizza sounds good," Robin finally grunted and looked over to the farthest corner of the room to see Raven, who had been quiet pretty much the whole week, standing there looking lost and uncomfortable in the long, black, floor-length dress she was wearing. He figured she was still really shaken up about things as well.

Titans Tower hadn't exactly been the most ideal place the last week. Cyborg had been much quieter and less excited about things than usual. He had spent most of his time adding technical and useless upgrades to the tower, T-Car, and his room. Starfire had spent most of her time baking foreign dishes, painting random walls pink and orange, and shopping at the mall to try to stop the images of Terra's smiling face from coming to mind. After a day of sobbing and sniffling, she figured the only way to get over it was to think happy thoughts.

Raven had, unsurprisingly, spent most of her time locked up in her room, reading and meditating. She never once came out to get tea, Robin knew because he waited for her each morning but she never showed, and she rarely spoke when she was actually sighted. Beast Boy would sometimes leave the tower for hours at a time and come back with bruises and bloody scars. He refused to tell the team where he had been and always ended up in the training room or his messy abode. Even the crime had slowed, causing them to not have much of a reason to interact.

Robin himself had spent most of his time in the crime lab trying to figure out just who did it. After hours of studying and researching, he figured it had nothing to do with Slade, as he was still missing from their time in hell with Trigon. He knew they had just succeeded in beating the Brotherhood of Evil but what would they want with Terra? After a few days, he came to the conclusion that whoever the killer was, was totally random. But he was still determined to find him _or her_.

"Guys," Robin called, causing everyone to look up from their slow conversations and stare at him in silence, "I know we're in mourning, but this guy's still out there. I didn't think I'd be saying this so soon after defeating the Brotherhood of Evil but we have to come together once again and find him before he strikes once more."

"Robin's right," Bumblebee voiced next and finally moved away from Cyborg to stand by her fellow leader. They couldn't continue to mope around when there was a viscous killer on the loose. They had to find him and they had to find him right—

 _Beep, beep, beep! Beep, beep, beep!_ The crime alarm sounded, making everyone jump in their skin. Seriously? Robin ran over to the large computer screen to see who the suspect with no heart was. He couldn't say he was shocked someone would want to cause trouble on a day they knew all the Titans were weak and vulnerable, but it still upset him.

"Are you kidding me?" Bumblebee sassed with a hand on her black, midi-length skirt-covered hip. "Who's the jerk that wants to cause trouble on such an awful day for us?"

"Red X," Robin hissed angrily as he watched the black-suited thief attacking the guards on the screen. He was beyond pissed. Of course the heartless, selfish bastard would use the day of a hero's funeral to his advantage. Gosh, did these criminals have any remorse? And Robin thought Red X was one of the good ones.

"Ooh, I want to kick his butt myself," Bumblebee growled angrily as she stomped over to the monitor in her black pumps that sounded like gunshots in the noiseless room and studied the villain as well.

"Okay, my team," Robin spun around and ogled the foggy-eyed, glum-faced Starfire, the poker-faced Raven, and a wet-eyed, exhausted looking Cyborg, "let's go."

"Are you sure, Robin?" Aqualad questioned uneasily. Not many people questioned Robin's orders, but it was quite obvious that his Westside teammates weren't exactly in the best condition to fight. They'd lose in a millisecond with their already-defeated moods.

"Yeah, we'll go for you," Hot Spot suggested. "You guys knew Terra the best and are probably taking it the hardest."

"Yeah, Robin," Kole chirped with a sympathetic smile on her small face. "Let us help you. We know you could use a break."

"They're right, Robin," Bumblebee breathed with a motherly hand on his shoulder. "We'll go. You guys rest."

"Okay, fine. You guys can stay," Robin said, eyeing the teammates he had grown closer to over the last three years, "but I'm going."

Raven suddenly stepped out of the dark shadows of her corner and rushed, "I'll go, too."

Robin moved closer to her and whispered to her emotionless, pale face, "You sure, Raven? I don't mind if you stay."

"It's fine. I could use something to punch anyway," she dropped sarcastically and started towards the door. Speedy, Kid Flash, Bumblebee, Aqualad, Kole, Argent, Hot Spot, Herald, and Jericho followed after her in a hurried fashion. Robin soon ran after as best as he could in his too-little loafers. With all of them together, there was no way Red X was going to get away. He was probably going to excrete bricks when he saw all of them in front of him ready to fight just as Dr. Light had.

But before they could get out the door, Kid Flash sped to the front of the crowd and held his hand up in a stopping motion.

"You know," Speedy droned with a sarcastic tone, "if we wait any longer, Red X will have taken over Jump City and possibly the whole world."

Kid Flashed ignored the death glares and annoyed sighs he was receiving from everyone and looked over to Robin with a boyish smirk. "Say it."

"Kid Flash, please just move so we can do our job," Robin growled lowly. His temper was really starting to rile up from the boy's playful gestures and sayings. This wasn't the time for fun or laughter. _Someone was dead._

"Nuh-uh-uh-uh," the blue-eyed teen raised a teasing finger, "not until you say it."

" _Ugghhh_ ," Robin sighed harshly and loudly, already knowing what the boy was referring to. Then, he proceeded to utter as dryly as he could and without the usual enthusiasm, his signature, "Titans, go!"

##############################################################################

When the team finally arrived to the scene, most of the guards were knocked out cold or getting to that point. All of the customers and tourists had long vanished. Most of the artifacts in the historical art museum were either shattered on the ground, getting ready to fall, or just plain old missing. Paintings were destroyed. Lights were flickering. An old, wooden sculpture had even caught on fire, giving the room a gray and hazy appearance.

"Ar-are w-we too late?" Hot Spot coughed as fresh, dark smoke filled his lungs.

Robin continued looking around at the mess that was once a respectable gem of the city and cursed their tardiness. "I'm not sure," he hissed and kicked a piece of painting debris.

Out of nowhere, a blackened body came flipping through the smoke right towards him. He threw a round kick right into the un-expecting hero's gut, causing him to slide on the ground right into the glass shards of the frames and timeless artifacts.

"Afternoon, Chuckles," the robotic voice chuckled over the squirming boy who was trying to muster up the energy to stand back up, "didn't think you'd ever make it."

Robin quickly jumped off the ground and held up a fighting stance. "You're going to regret messing with the Titans today, Red X. When we're done with you, your body's going to be art history." Robin quickly raised his loafer covered foot to strike the criminal.

But before Robin could throw his own kick, "Argh!" Red X blurted out as a heat-seeking arrow struck him in the back. Soon after, the criminal could feel himself drowning in a wave of what seemed like sewage water. Quickly after that, he felt his feet hovering off the ground and black and white light surrounding his body. He pried his burning, red, masked eyes opened to see that he was high off the floor and flying against his will over a crew of unknown Titans. There was a girl with pink hair and antennas, a man that was literally on fire, a weird guy with a blue cape and horn, a chick who looked like she flew right off a Honey Nut Cheerios box, a blonde guy who looked like he stepped right out of fairytale land, a gothic girl that even gave Raven a run for her money, a tall guy with an arsenal of arrows strapped to his back, a long-haired, fake Johnny Depp covered in fish scales, a living mixture of ketchup and mustard, and then of course the familiar, mystical Raven.

' _Geez, who are these people?'_ Red X thought and chuckled at the sight in front of him, not caring that they were still holding him hostage. Bumblebee morphed into her insect form and flew up to torture the criminal all over his body with her stingers. The masked man screamed out in pain from the sizzling, burning sensation the weapons were leaving on his skin and swatted at the miniature girl, but she was too quick for him.

"That'll teach you to mess with us on the wrong day!" she squeaked and morphed back into her normal-sized self.

"Okay, okay!" his frightened, robotic voice echoed throughout the large, vandalized room. "I'm sorry! Geez, put me down!"

Raven held up her glowing hands, the tail of her dark, lacy dress flowing happily behind her, and allowed her eyes to glow white as well. "I'm not through with you yet. _Azarath Metrion Zinthos_!" she bellowed and dropped the villain into the mass of broken frames and sculptures underneath him.

But Red X still wasn't giving up. _No_. He was way too cocky and ambitious for that. He rolled around in the mess and finally remembered that the suit gave him the power of teleportation. He was about to use it when Robin suddenly yanked him up from the ground and held him by his collar.

"Tell us where the missing artifacts are or I'll let Raven and the others continue to torture you," the black-haired boy grunted to the man wearing the dangerous suit he created.

Red X dropped his head slightly to the side and mocked, "Is that supposed to scare me, Chuckles?" Robin grimaced and tightened his grip around the boy's collar. He was suddenly beginning to regret not changing into his uniform. His bird-a-rangs and bo staff would really come in handy now, especially since Red X's combat skills were strangely up to par with his.

But before he could react again, Red X disappeared from his grip. He growled lowly to himself and turned to his teammates who were now searching everywhere for the criminal as well. Just like that he had disappeared into thin air. They all began to wonder why he hadn't done that sooner and finally realized it was probably just to taunt them. He knew all along they still wouldn't win when he had such an advanced suit.

"Where'd he go?!" Bumblebee screamed, frustrated. She wanted to torture him as long as humanly and ethically possible. His arrogant and coldhearted ways had lit her up like a firecracker.

"Nice outfit by the way," Robin suddenly heard behind him and immediately after felt a blowing crack to the back of his noggin. Before he knew it, he was seeing golden stars floating in front of his domino-masked eyes. The stars swiftly morphed into pure blackness as his failing body plummeted to the ground face first. He didn't know what Red X had done, but he knew it was causing serious damage to his psyche. He could faintly hear Raven screeching in pain as he slipped out of consciousness. He wanted to stand up, be a hero, protect her as he'd done a million times before, but he could no longer feel his body or _the life in it_. A million thoughts about his parents' death, what Batman would think, his teammates, and especially Raven's wellbeing ran through his head and then… _nothing_.

##############################################################################

After what seemed like an eternity later, Robin gradually began to stir within his own mind. He slowly noticed that he had been swallowed by pitch black darkness and he couldn't tell if he was having a terrifying nightmare or succumbing to the same cold, lonely abyss of death as Terra. If it wasn't for his senses tingling and picking up the smells and sounds of his surroundings, he would've thought it was the latter.

"Dick, _Di-ick_ ," a loud knock on a door, dying footsteps, and a womanly voice suddenly filled his ears, "time to get ready for school."

His eyes magically popped opened only to see an unfamiliar, white ceiling. It didn't take long for him to realize that he definitely wasn't in Titans Tower. He started to panic before bolting up in the round, blue sheeted bed he'd apparently been sleeping in and taking in his surroundings. The walls were bland and light brown much like his tower counterpart. There were two dressers, one decked with a large mirror, a large walk-in closet filled with the same quarter-sleeved button down and trousers—they only varied in color, and two framed posters featuring The Flying Graysons hanging on the wall. His favorite boom box from the tower was sitting in a corner next to an impressive collection of rock records and cassettes. There was a trophy case adorned with numerous tall, golden, athletic, Kung Fu, and academic awards that looked as if he shined them every day. There was a nice-sized window that was showing a sliver of the morning sunlight through the drawn, blue curtains. His favorite steel-toed, black boots were placed neatly beside his bed. And the entire room smelled like greasy bacon, buttery toast, and grounded, black coffee beans. He had no idea what this place was, but it seemed to be somewhere that could only be described as _home_.

"Dick?" the sweet voice came again as small footsteps could be heard coming closer. He stared at the door, biting his lip and bracing himself for whatever Mother-Mae-Eye like monster was about to show up. Seconds later, long, fluffy, black hair and happy, bright blue eyes showed themselves on a thin, lithe, average-heightened woman holding a basket of clean clothes instead.

Robin's breathing stopped as he almost lost consciousness once again. The woman he knew very well but the sound of her caring voice and sight of her loving smile had faded long ago. "Mom?"


	3. Freaky Friday

_**A/N: Hey, guys, just letting you know no one dies in this chapter either. This chapter is an introduction for the alternate versions of their friends. We're going to get into all the good stuff next chapter and it'll be here sooner than you think. Thanks for reading and please excuse any proofreading mistakes! Also, thanks for the reviews :) They mean a lot…xoxo**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans :)**

3\. Freaky Friday

"Aww, Dick, you're still in bed," the woman breathed and shook her head at the stunned, round-eyed teenager. "You're not going to have a chance to eat breakfast if you don't hurry."

Robin couldn't do anything but blink at the woman talking to him. He barely even heard a word she said. "Mom?"

"That's me," she chuckled and held the basket of clean clothes closer to her hip. "Now, up, up, up."

"Mom," Robin called as she happily turned to walk away, "is it really you?"

The black-haired woman raised a concerned eyebrow then proceeded to smirk at her flabbergasted, teenage son. "You know, Richard, I'm really starting to think all those tumbles to the head you took during acrobatic training really messed up your brain." Then, she snickered girlishly at her own remark and finally left the room.

Robin looked around the clean, orderly bedroom once more. _Where was he_? It felt way too real to be a dream. It obviously had to be some kind of trick Red X or Slade or Mumbo or someone was playing on him. And a cruel trick it was. Besides in dreams, he never thought he'd be in the presence of his deceased mother again and knowing it was all fake was just going to make going back to the real world even harder.

He looked at the fancy, iPod alarm clock sitting on the table beside his bed. _6:45, October 28, 2016_. Eight days prior to the day of Terra's funeral and three days prior to her death. Well, that explained why he was going to school on what he thought was a Saturday. He didn't know what time school started around here, but he was sure it was soon. However, the real question was, was he really going to play along with this? Was he going to go to school until something cracked or was he going to find his way out of here?

He chose the latter. He jumped up out of the bed to find himself in nothing but red boxer briefs and a white tee. He scurried around the room, looking through all of the drawers for something other than the preppy button-downs in his closet. He finally found a plain, black hoodie deep under his millions pairs of thick black socks and settled on it. He walked swiftly over to the closet and saw a pair of blue jeans hiding in a corner and a pair of worn out red Converses stuffed into another.

For some reason, his hair didn't feel as bogged down and stiff as it normally did, so he hurried over to the mirror only to gag at the sight of the same, preppy hairstyle Mother-Mae-Eye tried to force him to wear the year before. His preppy alter ego apparently never used gel since there seemed to be none around, so he spiked his hair as best he could with mousse and hairspray. He rustled with the black fibers until they were closest to his normal do and sighed at his limp results.

Suddenly, he realized something else as he stared back at his reflection in the mirror. His spiky hair and uniform weren't the only things missing: so was his mask. He began to panic. Did people in this world know his identity? What if someone else from his world had gotten thrown into this one as well and discovered it? Someone like Red X or whoever the villain responsible for this was. He just couldn't risk it. Luckily, there was a pair of all black, reflective sunglasses perched on top of the dresser. He let out a sigh and rushed out of the room, grabbing the green backpack by the door on his way out.

What he saw when he stepped out was unbelievable. The house looked as if they'd been living there for years. There were family pictures everywhere, old arts and crafts of his when he was younger posted on the walls, homey decorations in each corner, and even a golden retriever who instantly jumped onto him happily with a wagging tail. Robin looked at the dog's blue collar for a name. _Titan_. Wow, this was really starting to get weird.

Robin had no idea where he was going as he sauntered around the unfamiliar place. He felt as if he'd made a couple of circles even though the house didn't seem to be that large. He finally found a bathroom and picked up a toothbrush he prayed was his. Then, he glanced at his unusual appearance in the mirror and knew it would be a long day. How was he supposed to find his way out of this? Was there some kind of spell or portal somewhere? Was there some kind of machine like a time machine but for alternate universes? Or was he just dreaming it all? He had no idea how to figure it out. He just hoped and prayed at least one of his friends had gotten pulled in with him. Only thing is he didn't know where to find them. His best bet would probably be the school. He figured if he was in school, they'd probably be, too.

He spat his toothpaste in the sink and rinsed it and his mouth out. He sighed then thought, _'Guess I'm going to high school.'_ And with that, he left out of the pristine bathroom and followed the fresh aroma of coffee, bacon, and maple syrup downstairs.

"Bout time you made it down, Son," a masculine voice teased as Robin strolled into what he discovered was the dining area. Robin knew he shouldn't have been shocked as he had just seen his mother literally minutes before, but seeing his dad's dark brown eyes focused on the morning newspaper as he sat at the dining room table drinking coffee just brought forth so many emotions. He never realized how much him and his father were alike, but reading the newspaper and drinking plain coffee was something Robin did almost every morning.

"Uh, yeah," Robin uttered shakily, he could almost hear the tears in his voice. _This was going to be hard._

"Eat up, my Little Robin," his mom popped up out of nowhere and set a whole plate of steaming hot breakfast on the table for him.

"Mary, the boy's eighteen now," his father scorned and took a sip of his steamy beverage, "I don't think he wants you to baby talk him."

Mary rolled her sparkling eyes playfully, "Well, I know, John, but he'll always be my Little Robin." Then, she turned and rustled Robin's hair, much to his delight. "Isn't that right, Dick?"

Robin tried to muster up a smile as he eased into his seat at the table. "Right." The lady grinned happily at his response and made her way back into the kitchen.

John smirked and looked over at his son, "I know you hate it, but, don't worry, it's between me and you."

"Thanks," Robin laughed even though deep down he knew he missed hearing his mother's pet name for him. It'd been years since he'd heard it from such a loving voice. "So, does the bus normally pick me up for school?"

John raised a confused eyebrow as he lowered his paper. "You know you usually drive to school, Dick. You okay, Son?"

Robin's inner self went into fright mode. He couldn't let them know he wasn't _him_. "Oh, no, no. I'm fine. Just a little spaced out this morning. Didn't get much sleep."

John shook his head side to side and went back to reading his paper. "That Roy Harper kid finally got to you, didn't he?"

Robin narrowed his hidden, curious blue eyes. "What do you mean?"

"He finally got you to hit the bong, right?" John let out a manly, hearty laugh. "That kid's a stoner if I've ever seen one."

Robin didn't know what the heck he was talking about but he just smiled in agreement. "Yeah, but don't worry, Dad. He'll never get to me."

"Aww, lighten up, Dick," John chuckled once more as he stood up in his fitted, black tux and straightened his scarlet red tie, "you gotta have fun sometimes."

Minutes later, it was finally time for him to head to school. He had no clue how that was going to turn out, but he hoped and wished the others would be there to help him figure it out. There was only one problem. As he stood there in front of the key rack next to the front door, he had no idea which keys were his. His dad had already left for work, so there were only two pairs left. One with a Nissan logo and one with a Chevrolet logo. His parents already thought he was losing his mind, so they were sure to suspect something if he asked. Ugh, this was all so difficult.

"Hey, Mom, what kind of car do you drive again?" he called from the foyer, anxiety filling his body.

Mary stuck her head around the corner with a befuddled expression on her doll-like face, "A Nissan Pathfinder. Why?"

"Roy wanted to know," he smiled and grabbed the other keys off the rack. Before leaving out the door, he rushed over and kissed her on her round cheek. He figured it was definitely something his other self would do and hurried back over to the golden doorknob.

"You sure you're okay, Richard?" her worried voice rang before he could stepped outside into the bright sunlight of this new world.

He looked back and stared into her protective blue eyes that were completely identical to his own. He caught his breath and gave her an assuring smile before saying, "I'm positive." Then, he closed the door behind him and admired the vintage, red, 1963 Camaro parked behind the Nissan Pathfinder in the driveway. It wasn't quite the R-Cycle or the red, Ferrari 458 Bruce had bought him for his sixteenth birthday, but it was perfect for the middle-class, suburban life he was living right now. He popped open the lock and proceeded to get into the car, but was stopped by what sounded like a frantic woman screaming his name.

Robin glanced around every which way until his eyes landed on a dark-haired, petite girl jogging towards him. "Robin! Robin, wait!" _It was Raven._ But it didn't necessarily look like Raven. Her hair was instead black with one long streak of her natural, violet hair color in the front and it was much longer than its usual, blunt cut, bob style. She seemed to be thicker yet more lean and her skin tone was slightly less pale than her normal color. _But only slightly._ She was sporting a purple crop top, high-waisted black jeans, a thick, black cardigan, and knee-high, faux leather boots. Her brilliant red chakra was missing from her forehead and instead seemed to be replaced by the dull, black lip ring that was sitting so effortlessly in the center of her full, flesh tone lips.

Robin stuttered at the stark difference in her appearance. Pretty much everything about him was the same when he woke up in this world, except his spiky hair and mask while Raven looked totally different and somehow even more gothic than usual. But to Robin's surprise, he actually kind of liked it. It wasn't the typical bubblegum, girly way that most girls around him seemed to dress. She was atypical and he was intrigued by atypical. Not to mention, it fit her personality to a tee.

Robin realized he was gawking when her thick, dark eyebrows suddenly raised in irritation above her stunning violet eyes. "Raven, did you—"

"Where are we? What happened?!" she interrupted with her hands on top of her head. She seemed to be freaking out over this whole situation and _Raven never freaked out_. No matter how stressful the mission. Matter fact, was this his Raven? Her emotions seemed to be going haywire but nothing around them was blowing up or going up in shams. Something certainly wasn't right.

Robin squinted his eyes at the short, panicking girl in front of him. "Are you—"

"Wait," she interrupted again, this time folding her arms against her chest, "how do I know you're the real Robin? Everyone around here seems to be alternate versions of people in our world which means you could be one of them."

Robin scratched the back of his neck anxiously, "I-I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Raven tried her best to calm down. At least she knew she wasn't alone now, but it still didn't explain the weirdness of it all. "Where are the others? Who did this? Why do I have a hole and a metal ring in my lip?!"

Robin gingerly grabbed her by her fragile shoulders and tried to talk some sense into her, "You have to calm down, Raven. We're going to figure this out, but it's going to take a lot of thinking and patience. First, we should see if we can find the others. Then, we have to figure out who's behind this. After that, it shouldn't be hard to find a way out of here."

Raven took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Okay, you're right. Sorry. I just woke up with a pounding migraine in this dark, creepy room that could give my room at the tower a run for its money. Then, I tried teleporting only to realize I'm powerless here. And literally seconds later, I discover that I am living with my lunatic dad who's apparently some kind of satanic cult leader. So, excuse me if I'm freaking out."

"Trigon?" Robin questioned, concerned. He might not have known everything about this parallel universe, but if it was one thing he was sure of, it was that Trigon was evil no matter where he was.

"Yeah," Raven forced with the wave of her hand. "Apparently my mom ditched us a while ago. She refused to raise a child conceived through rape."

Robin frowned gravely. He hated that even in this world Raven was still motherless. A child should never bear the pain of being hated by the one person who's supposed to love you most in this world. At least he was lucky in that aspect.

"Well, somehow my parents are still alive here," he finally added after a minute of taking in the musical sound of birds chirping and the autumn wind rustling behind them.

Raven's huge, doe eyes grew sympathetic for the boy in front of her. It was a rare thing for him to see and it did something to his usually buried heart. "Wow. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her and pulled his book bag closer to his back. "Just a little weirded out. Well, a lot of weirded out."

Raven nodded her head in understanding. "I can only imagine."

"Yeah," Robin whispered, then cleared his throat more loudly. "Well, I guess we should go find the others. They're probably at school."

"Yeah," Raven agreed, then glanced over at the ancient but drivable car. "According to our maid, I usually hitch a ride with you every day."

Robin smirked as his memory flashed back to just moments before when he'd asked his dad about his transportation to school. "Do they think a coconut hit you over the head, too?"

Raven leered back and replied dryly, "That's an understatement."

##############################################################################

Moments later, the dark-haired duo took a deep breath as they pulled into the large parking lot of Jump City High. This was obviously going to be a crazy day. They had no idea who their teachers were or what their schedules were like. Were their friends even here or were they all spread out across the country? Were they even from their world or were they alternate versions of themselves as well? Little did they know, the answer to their last question would be answered much sooner than they thought.

"Nice hairdo, Robin," Speedy cackled as Robin stepped from the driver's side of his car. Raven promptly followed and noticed that the redhead was dressed in a distressed, black AC/DC t-shirt, tight, dark denim jeans, and the same red Converses as Robin. In addition, he was posted up on the back of a glistening, black Corvette next to a more mysterious Aqualad. The long-haired boy was instead dressed in a black, leather jacket, blue t-shirt, and light wash blue jeans. His shoes were basically biker boots.

"What inspired you?" Speedy continued to double over in laughter. "A triceratops?"

Aqualad nudged Speedy in the arm with his elbow as he noticed the annoyed expression on both Robin and Raven's faces. "Give it up, Speedy. You're making them angry and it's only 7:25."

Speedy raised his hands up in defense and finished the last of his chuckles. "Okay, okay. Sorry. It just caught me off guard."

Well, the two otherworlders guessed that meant Speedy and Aqualad were out. At least they all still had their superhero monikers. Robin rolled his eyes behind his reflective, black sunglasses and pretended not to sound crushed as he said, "Just wanted to try something new."

"What's up, guys!" " _Ah_!" Kid Flash popped up out of nowhere causing Raven to almost crap her pants. She hated this fearful, unsure version of herself. She couldn't control her emotions and had no idea how to react to literally anything.

"Uh, sorry," Kid Flash chuckled nervously, scared of Raven's wrath, but it never came.

"You should stop popping up like that," Speedy turned serious. "After what happened last night, anyone popping up on me like that is getting punched in the balls."

Aqualad lifted a teasing dark eyebrow. "What if it's a girl?"

"Well," Speedy started, then stood there thinking long and hard. Finally, he sighed, defeated. "Well, that just changes everything."

Robin glanced at the quiet Raven and instantly knew they were thinking the same thing. "What happened last night?" they both spat at the same time and speed.

The two redheads and long-haired boy glanced at them in amazement. "Wait, you guys didn't hear?" Aqualad questioned in shock. Raven and Robin only shook their heads slowly, not really knowing if they should know.

"You remember that super fine, blue-eyed, blonde chick from that private school BB used to date last year?" The two once again shook their heads, this time at Speedy's question. "Well—"

"She totally got butchered last night," Wally interjected impatiently. "She suffered one slice to the back and fourteen stab wounds to her chest area."

"Dang," was all Speedy could say as he shook his head at the horrible image of her mutilated body.

Aqualad eyed Kid Flash funnily and asked, "How do you know so much? They didn't reveal any of that on the news this morning."

Wally grinned a pompous smirk. "My Uncle Barry is the second leading detective on this case. I know all the details, my boy. Crime scene photos were gruesome, by the way. The killer showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever."

Raven and Robin ignored the chatters that were coming from _their_ friends' mouths and eyed each other once more. This time also knowing that they were thinking deeply about the same question: _Terra was murdered in this universe as well?_ How was that even possible when even their parents were still alive? Didn't that mean Terra should be alive as well? Didn't Terra die on Halloween which apparently hadn't come in this universe yet? This was all way too difficult to figure out.

"Shh, here comes BB. Act normal," Speedy said to the talkative KF as a gloomy Beast Boy made his way over to the crowd with Cyborg, Bumblebee, and Starfire following closely behind. Well, at least they assumed it was Beast Boy.

"Sup, dudes," the green-eyed teen quietly mumbled when he finally reached his destination.

"Are you okay, Beast Boy?" Robin asked out of habit. It might not have been the Beast Boy he lived and dealt with each day, but he was still his friend. For some strange reason, the guy looked almost identical to their friend, but there was one hugely significant thing missing: _his green skin_. Instead it was replaced with fair skin closely related to Robin's and his stark green hair was strangely blonde. Everything else though was exactly the same, including his boyish voice and round, green eyes.

"I'm a little dazed and shocked, but I'm okay," Beast Boy surprisingly answered. His way of grieving was already obviously different from what they were used to. "It'd been a minute since Terra and I talked, but it still hurts to know that she's gone."

"Just remember we're here for you, BB, if you need to talk," Cyborg promised and placed a brotherly hand on the shorter boy's shoulder. It took the two consciously aware Titans a minute to realize that Cyborg wasn't exactly Cyborg anymore either. There was nothing robotic around him. In fact, both sides of his body were completely human and symmetrical.

"I know," Beast Boy smiled a tiny smile, "thanks, dudes. Don't know where I'd be without you."

"Aww that's so sweet," Bumblebee teased and wrapped a motherly arm around his shoulder.

Seconds later, Robin felt Starfire's exuberant, emerald green eyes land on him. He couldn't ignore the fact that she instantly beamed when she caught sight of him. He was slowly beginning to wonder if they'd already dated in this world.

Months ago, after the whole Tokyo mission, he quickly realized that what he felt for Starfire was nothing more than an innocent crush on a beautiful girl. He was a teenage boy with caged hormones. What did people expect? Starfire's bubbly mood and clinginess always made him want to crawl into a hidden corner during their relationship. Not to mention the ungodly amount of trips they had taken to the mall had driven him out his mind. One thing he always loved about her though was her compassion and loyalty for her friends. And for that very reason, he couldn't break up with her. Their relationship was cute and fun. Just like a teenage romance should be. And in the end, she had been the one to break up with him, claiming that she believed they were better off as friends. Robin figured it was really because she couldn't handle his dark side as much as he could handle her bright one. His secretiveness and reserved ways dimmed her light and there was almost nothing worse than seeing a sad Starfire. _Almost_.

"I am much enjoying your new style of hair, Friend Robin," the always-happy girl chirped to the thinking boy.

Robin gave a friendly smile that he couldn't help but show whenever he was talking to her. "Thanks, Star."

 _Diiiiinnngggg_ , the morning bell rang signaling the start of the school day. Everyone groaned while Aqualad smoothly eased over to Raven and threw a long arm around her shoulder. "I'll walk to you class, my beautiful Sting-Rae."

To his surprise, Raven wasted no time taking his arm, twisting it behind his back, and push kicking him to the ground. "Keep your hands off me, you long-haired fish scale," she hissed angrily and dusted her hands on her sweater. All of that hand-to-hand combat and training Robin had forced them to do over the last few weeks had really paid off.

All of their friends save for Robin gasped silently and looked at her with wide eyes as Aqualad struggled to get off the ground with a deep frown on his face. Robin, being the kind gentleman he was, decided to lend him a hand, causing the situation to grow more awkward.

"Friend Raven, have you and Friend Aqualad done the breaking up?" Starfire questioned with confusion. It seemed to be the same confusion everyone else, especially Aqualad, was wearing as well. Raven squinted in her own befuddlement and then blinked a couple times. She looked at Robin who gave her the look he always gave her when he didn't really know what to say.

"Oh, no," she tried to force out in a playful tone, but ended up blushing in embarrassment instead, "I was just watching a ton of Chuck Norris movies last night, so it was a natural reflex."

Everyone just continued to stare in silence until Bumblebee decided to add her two cents, "Girl, that was so bad! You have to teach me your moves later."

Raven tried to smile, but apparently the corner of her lips didn't work in this dimension either. "Sure thing, Bee." Then, she turned to look at the quiet boy she guessed was her boyfriend. "I'm sorry… _Sweet…heart_ …I just had a moment." Raven almost choked on her own breath as the word _sweetheart_ forced itself out of her mouth. But if her and Aqualad were a couple in this dimension, she couldn't mess that up. There's no telling how things would change in the real world if she did.

"Anybody happen to know who I take first period…and do you also by any chance know where that classroom is…?" Robin questioned to take his mind off the discovery him and Raven had just made. _'Seriously, Aqualad? Otherworld Raven couldn't do better than him?!'_

Once again all of their friends just continued to stare at them like they had both grown two heads without even realizing. Then, as if on cue, they all burst into fits of laughter and deep breaths. "Okay, what's the punchline? You've got to be playing with us," Cyborg chuckled and gave Robin a brotherly slap on the back.

Robin raised an annoyed, black eyebrow. "There's no punchline. I was serious…"

Everyone's laughter ceased and it was once again silent until Kid Flash decided to speak his mind, "You two are acting really weird. Almost like you've never been here before."

Cyborg took this as an invitation to start inspecting them in all the crevices and folds of their body he could visibly see. "You two haven't been replaced by clones, have you?" he interrogated while lifting up a now highly annoyed Robin's arm and sniffing his pits.

" _Grr_ ," Robin growled lowly to himself and snatched his arm away from the buffer teen. "No, we both just had a long night. That's all. Now can we get to class?"

Aqualad glanced at Raven then at Robin then back at Raven. "A long night," he whispered to himself, then asked the girl he thought was his girlfriend, "Were you guys _together_ last night?"

" _Together_?" Robin repeated as if he wanted the boy to explain exactly what he meant.

Raven's cheeks flashed red and her violet eyes lit up with anger, "What exactly are you implying, Aqualad?"

Aqualad sighed and realized he instantly regretted suggesting that she cheated on him. He knew Raven would never do such a thing. Out of the six months of their relationship, this was the first day she'd seemed a little off. It was bound to happen eventually, and it definitely wasn't going to change the way he felt about her.

"Nothing, Raven. I'm sorry…it's just the way he put it," the long-haired boy admitted in all honesty, then wrapped another loving arm around her stiff shoulder. "Let's get to class before we're late."

Robin watched Raven's face as Aqualad slowly dropped his arm around her waist and squeezed her closer to him. It was a sweet, typical relationship gesture, but Raven looked beyond uncomfortable.

At that moment, the spiky-haired boy knew he had to get them out of there soon or else they would probably be forced into doing more things they didn't want to do. For some reason, he hated seeing Raven unhappy with all his heart. Ever since their minds had merged and they developed their unbreakable bond, she'd been the best friend he could have. She didn't usually say or do much, but she was always there to lend a listening ear and sound advice. Because of the strength of their relationship, she didn't hold anything back and most of the time brutal honesty was exactly what he needed to hear. And he'd probably never admit it to her, but he thoroughly enjoyed her sarcasm and insults to Beast Boy. They always made him laugh and smile on the inside and sometimes his heart just needed a little lightening up. His favorite memories of their friendship though was just the quiet mornings they'd spent watching the sunrise from the roof of the tower. Ever since that day she'd become Trigon's portal, they sort of made it into a habit. She'd sit there meditating with her legs in a lotus position, and he'd just sit there thinking, sometimes meditating himself, and secretly peaking at her out the corner of his masked, cerulean blue eye. If only he had been her boyfriend here instead of Aqualad…

Wait, what was he thinking? That might've just been even more uncomfortable for her. She had never shown any slight feelings for The Boy Wonder himself, but everyone knew she once upon a time had a small crush on the Atlantean. His tall, dark, handsome good looks and respectable, enigmatic, and sweet personality made him the perfect choice for Raven. Robin didn't think he could compete. Did he even like her that way? He didn't know, but at least she'd be faking it out with someone she knew. Sure, she knew Aqualad in their world, but there was something different about everyone here. They all seemed to be caricatures of themselves.

"I guess we'll play along with your little games," Bumblebee sassed, pushing him back into reality—whatever that was. "We take all the same classes, so you can just follow me until you _remember_ your schedule."

"Thanks," he uttered lowly and pulled his book bag closer to him before following their _friends_ inside the building. He let out a deep, audible sigh for the umpteenth time that week and once again thought, _'This is going to be a long day.'_


	4. Friday Night Lights

_**A/N: This is a long one lol.**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans or any other copyrighted characters mentioned :)**

 **4\. Friday Night Lights**

* * *

"Thanks again," Raven mumbled as Aqualad dropped her off at her fourth class that day. He really was a good, loyal boyfriend, almost even like a little puppy. He seemed to be enamored by her and she just couldn't begin to understand why. She was no saint and had the most shut off personality of anyone she knew.

Aqualad smiled a bashful, content smile and nodded, "No problem."

"You know," she started before he could walk away, "you really don't have to walk me to the rest of my classes."

Aqualad swiftly waved his hands in front of him, showing his disagreement. "No, I insist. It's the least I can do since swim practice has been taking up so much of our quality time. Plus, I sort of accused you of cheating on me. I owe it to you."

Raven smiled as largely as she could, which of course wasn't very big, and nodded understandably. He was just trying to be a gentleman and she couldn't knock him for that. "Well, if you insist, that's fine with me."

Then, to Raven's shock, he flashed her a goofy, white-tooth grin—a.k.a. something she's never seen him do in the real world—and quickly bent down to peck her on her pierced lips. "Okay, see you in fifty minutes."

Raven stood there speechless as his tall figure retreated down the busy hall. Did he just kiss her? On the lips? Even though it was small and simple, she still hadn't necessarily been kissed before. And that was definitely not the way she imagined her first kiss would be.

"Uh, yeah…" And with that mumbling to herself, she turned and walked into the unfamiliar classroom behind her. She wasted no time picking the seat furthest to the back and hidden in a dark corner as she had done in all of the previous classes. Yet the desk in this one seemed to be darker and creepier than the rest of the room with all of the scribbles and doodles carved into it.

"Hey, Raven," a voice called for her. She turned her head slightly to see a still pink-haired Jinx eying her funnily. Before she knew it, the villainess-turned-hero was making her way over to her old, creaky desk in a black slip dress, a spiky, black choker, a purple, leather jacket, and black combat, lug sole boots. She'd ditched her signature pigtails for one, big ponytail on the side. Her style reminded Raven of all of the hideous clothes she'd sorted through in "her" closet that morning. The outfit she was sporting now was probably made up of the least gothic pieces she could find.

"Can I help you?" Raven deadpanned blankly as the girl stood over her waiting for answers.

Jinx twisted her mouth in the same confusion the others had shown earlier that morning. "What's your problem? Why are you sitting over here?"

Raven was about to say something sarcastic, but then quickly remembered that she didn't know how things were going in this world. For all she knew, she and Jinx could've been best friends in a different lifetime. And maybe that different lifetime was this one.

"I-I guess I forgot which class I was in," Raven tried to sound friendly, but even she didn't believe it was working. "Where do I normally sit?"

Jinx raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her small chest. "Beside me, duh. What's gotten into you, Raven? You're starting to act like that dumbo Mammoth who sits next to me in science. Is that hole in your lip giving you a fever?"

"Maybe," Raven rushed before thinking, then quickly changed her response, "um, of course not. I just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Oh, no. You did it," Jinx gasped in amazement and practically used all her strength to pull the dark-haired girl to the desk right next to hers. She plopped in her own seat and turned eagerly towards Raven. "Tell me all the details."

Raven squinted in ignorance. Why did everyone here have to be so vague?! "Of what?"

"Of how you finally got that goody-two-shoes Aqualad to sleep with you," Jinx replied instantly. She was obviously very excited to hear what Raven had to say.

Raven once again blushed at the image that suddenly popped in her head. Let's just say the image was…very pleasant to her. But who was she kidding? In her universe, she was a goody-two-shoes as well. She'd never done anything of a sexual nature in her whole life. She was seventeen and hadn't even had her first kiss for Pete's sake! Well, technically, now she had thanks to the tall, dark lad. And why did everyone think no sleep meant she was getting it off?!

"We didn't sleep together," Raven finally said, causing the girl's perky ears to fall. "And probably never will."

Meanwhile down the hall in another noisy class was a highly agitated, highly exhausted, and highly ready to go home Robin. So far his day had been beyond boring since most of his classes were the typical AP and dual enrollment classes. He loved learning and showing off his intelligence, but where was the action? Where was the P.E.? Thankfully, Bruce had had them all homeschooled for a couple years to get their degrees. He didn't think he would've made it if he'd gone to real school and tried to manage a superhero lifestyle.

' _How did Kim Possible, the Powerpuff Girls, and all the other in-school superheroes on T.V. do it?'_ he thought to himself as he sat in a middle row desk at the center of the classroom with his chin in his hand.

"Yo, Rob," Cyborg called as he sauntered into the class, "your seat's over here, man."

' _Ugh,'_ Robin sighed within his brain. I forgot to mention that when he wasn't bored out of his mind, he was being endlessly harassed and teased about his hair, sunglasses, and attire by Cyborg, Kid Flash, and Speedy. Of course the K.F. and Speedy jokes came in between periods since they weren't in any of the college level classes. Thankfully Beast Boy was still grieving because he was sure he'd be even more annoying in this universe as well. Bumblebee was her usual studious, independent self in all of their classes. And as for Starfire, he hadn't really seen much of her or Aqualad and Raven since that morning.

 _Diiiiinnngggg_ , the bell rang signaling the start of fourth period, but it barely fazed Robin. He was too busy thinking as he walked over to his seat beside Cyborg and behind Bumblebee. Sadly, the topic he was focused on was pulling his usually still heart towards an emotional downfall.

 _Aqualad and Raven_. Robin breathed outward once again at the thought of the two. What did this-world-Raven see in this-world-Aqualad that she didn't see in this-world-him? He didn't know why it was bothering him so much since it wasn't actually _his Raven_ that had chosen Aqualad. In fact, back in their universe, Aqualad and Raven rarely interacted since he was usually on the other side of the country. But when they did see each other, there was no doubt there was chemistry and lots of good conversations and shy glances shared between the two.

Robin often wished he could read her mind like she could with his. He knew she never actually invaded his privacy, but it would be nice to just have the ability. Especially now. All he could think about was is she okay? Is she still uncomfortable or has she warmed up to the fish boy? Did he walk her to every single class and kiss her in between? Had she found friends or was she a loner each period? Ugh, he hated worrying. He knew she could protect herself if need be, but he'd much rather do it for her.

Out of nowhere, the door to the classroom wildly swung open just as the teacher was about to begin his lecture. Swiftly after the door opened, a six-feet tall, dark-haired, grumpy-faced boy walked in and swaggered past the teacher as if he wasn't there and as if he himself wasn't tardy.

The late teen's appearance almost instantly caught Robin's eye. _'Jason?'_ Was all he could think as he observed the boy sauntering down the furthest aisle of students in the room. The shadowy guy had dark black hair that was almost identical to Robin's save for the fact that it was gelled down almost like his when he woke up that morning. The boy also had a very contrasting gray streak going through the front right side of his dark locks. His threatening eyes sparkled an icy blue color that was a shade or two lighter than Robin's brilliant, cerulean blue ones. His jawline was strong and tough like a streetfighter and his thin, pink lips were set in a straight line.

But all of these features were more than familiar to Robin. And that was because they were actually the features of one of his younger, adopted brothers, Jason Todd. Jason was the bad kid that Bruce was trying to change for the better. So far, Robin couldn't tell if it was indeed working. Sure he put on his hero's cape and mask and fought the bad guys from time to time, but there was just something dark surrounding him. Last Robin knew, he'd disappeared from existence, causing Bruce to adopt another orphan, Tim Drake. But Tim was much more like Robin and he had no doubt that he was a good kid. Jason, on the other hand, was unpredictable.

After the boy sat down in his corner seat next to the window, Robin continued to steal a few glances. Then, his breath was cut short as he glanced one time too many and caught the attention of the boy himself. Their blue eyes locked and Robin almost felt a twinge of fear until the boy let a playful smirk find his face. Yet Robin wasn't so sure that that was the source of his fear.

In addition to the thick, black bomber jacket, black jeans, and black combat boots he was wearing, Jason was also sporting a form-fitting, black t-shirt. But what stood out the most about the black t-shirt was the large, red _X_ sitting right in the center. The logo made Robin's last memories from his universe flash right before his foggy eyes. Suddenly, he was seeing rushed visions of Terra's melancholy funeral, Beast Boy blowing up on everyone then storming away, and fighting Red X in a museum that was ruined because they arrived too late. Was Jason really truly Red X? Beast Boy sure did seem to think so and so did a lot of other people. But Robin was always in denial. He always figured it was Slade's son Grant Wilson or maybe even an old thief from Gotham by the name of Eric Needham. Jason might not have been the best hero, but he wasn't a villain. Although, that would explain Red X's antihero persona. He even once said he knew how to play the hero. Not to mention, he'd saved Robin's life on numerous occasions.

A better question though was, was Red X the reason they were here? Or was it some other villain? And why did he smirk at him like that? Did that mean he knew something Robin didn't? Robin spent the whole class pondering those questions and ones like them. Before he knew it, the bell rang signaling lunchtime. Cyborg practically sprinted to the cafeteria causing Robin to have to jog to keep up with him. Apparently, today was pizza day which meant everyone was excited and racing to the lunch room. Robin unwillingly participated in their anticipation until he almost ran smack dab into Jinx and Raven. Well, at least he assumed it was Jinx and Raven. He had to keep reminding himself that Raven looked extremely different from her usually covered, modest appearance. And Jinx without pigtails just made his head hurt.

The two girls ogled him oddly until Raven spontaneously wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into one of Starfire's signature, bone-crushing hugs. "Robin, I'm so glad to see you."

Robin was dumbstruck. She hadn't hugged him since they defeated Trigon and before then, she'd never hugged him at all. It was an extremely rare gesture since she hardly showed her vulnerable and emotional side. But it made his heart warm to know that she'd missed him that much over the last few hours.

"I missed you, too, Raven," the ebony-haired boy teased and smirked as they finally pulled away from each other. Jinx was still looking at them big-eyed with her purple lipstick covered mouth so agape they could see her tonsils.

Raven cut her violet eyes at his cockiness and folded her arms across her chest to show what she was really thinking. "I'm not glad to see you because I miss you, I'm glad to see you because I'm ready to solve this and get out of this place. I hate it here," she whispered.

"Oh, yeah, right," Robin mumbled while scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Can't believe we haven't had any classes together."

" _Ahem_ ," Jinx proceeded to clear her throat loudly, interrupting their secretive reunion. "Mind telling me what's going on here?"

Raven rolled her eyes and put on a fake smile before turning back to Jinx. "Do you mind if I eat lunch with Robin today? He's helping me out with some calculus homework."

Jinx's pretty face fell blank right before she dropped this bomb, "You don't take calculus, Raven. And since when do you care about doing your homework? You hate school."

Raven glanced at Robin who just softly hunched his shoulders. "Uh…"

"You know what? Never mind," Jinx rushed with her hands up in surrender. "There's something weird going on with you two. Whatever it is, it's not going to be a secret for long."

"No—" Robin started, but was interrupted by the pink-haired one.

"No worries, Raven," she dragged and started back towards the cafeteria, "I'll just tell Argent that you'd rather spend lunch with your penis-having best friend."

The otherworlders' mouths fell at her terminology and watched in shocked as she sassed her way into the cafeteria. They glanced at each other silently once more and eventually made their way to their own empty, secluded table. They sat directly across from each other and avoided talking for a good minute before Robin decided to break the silence.

"So, I take it, Jinx and Argent are your best friends in this universe," he uttered casually.

Raven watched him with a poker face. "Yeah, and you, too, apparently. I think the girls and I are outcasts in a way, but because I'm friends with you, I'm friends with the others as well. You and I are only friends because we've been neighbors most of our lives."

Robin placed a chin in his palm and uttered, "That sounds likely. In fact, now that I think about it," he squinted behind his dark frames, "I think we're all cliché teenage archetypes here. You, Jinx, and Argent are the goths and outsiders. Cyborg is the jock. According to my dad, Speedy is the stoner. Bumblebee's the smart, most likely to succeed type. I'm the preppy, smart kid who probably golfs on Sundays. Aqualad's the good-natured yet mysterious guy. BB and KF are the comic relief. Obviously, Starfire's the beautiful cheerleader-type."

' _Of course, he has to call Starfire the beautiful one,'_ Raven dry chuckled to herself in sarcasm. Why did that thought suddenly make her heart drop to her stomach?

"And," Robin started again, but just as quickly paused as if he was scared to finish his sentence, "and Jason's the rebel."

Raven raised a confused eyebrow. "Jason? Your brother Jason?" Robin nodded his head hesitantly. "He's here?"

"Yeah," Robin mumbled almost incoherently, "and I think he may be Red X."

"What?" Raven screeched lowly, her eyes as round as the oranges on everyone's trays. "How do you know?"

"Well, I was sitting in my art history class when Jason just came barging in late. I was shocked to see him alive since I thought he was dead, too. Needless to say, I kept stealing glances at him and what do I see? Red X's logo on his t-shirt."

"Oh Azar no," Raven droned and dropped her head towards the table, "Beast Boy was actually right about something. He's never going to stop bragging."

"I know," Robin said, catching her eye as he placed his hands on the lengthy, solid surface across from hers. "Funny thing is he caught me looking at him and all he did was smirk. Like he knows something I don't."

Raven narrowed her large, doe eyes, quickly pulling her hands from near his, and thought long and hard. "Wait a minute, Red X? That's who we were fighting before we ended up here. Do you think he's the Red X from our world?"

Robin let out an unknowing, angry sigh. He absolutely loathed not having the answers. "I don't know. But I think it's highly poss—"

"Sup, dudes," Beast Boy's goofy voice came out of nowhere as he placed a tray on one side of Raven. The two birds stared at him in disbelief and was about to scorn him for interrupting their conversation, but they soon realized that Beast Boy wasn't the only heading for their table. Before they knew it, Starfire, Cyborg, Bumblebee, Kid Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad were joining them as well. Raven and Robin couldn't do anything but sit in silent anger. The crew already thought they were being weird; they couldn't further that idea by acting out.

"Hey, my Sting-Rae," Aqualad whispered almost sensually as he eased into his spot next to his unwelcoming girlfriend. She gave him a visibly fake smile that fell almost as quickly as it rose. He noticed this but decided to shake it off, thinking he must've been imagining it. "I came after class to walk you here, but you weren't there."

Raven turned her head to the opposite side so that he wouldn't witness her rolling her eyes. Then, she forced yet another fake smile and caught a glimpse of Robin smirking mockingly at her situation as she turned to face her boyfriend. "Yeah, I walked here with Jinx. Sorry about that."

Aqualad nodded in understanding. "It's fine. Not a big deal."

"Thanks," she mumbled and reached over to grab a hot, greasy fry off his tray. He raised an eyebrow at this and almost laughed out loud as she stuffed the cooked potato into her mouth. She felt her stomach rumble and grabbed a few more before stuffing them in her mouth as well. She had no idea why she was doing this, but at this point she'd do anything to take her mind off everything going on.

"Hungry much, Raven?" he finally chuckled as the others—not including Robin—carried on their own conversations and laughter, oblivious to the moment the two were sharing.

"What?" she spat with a mouth full of mushed up potatoes. "This is what girlfriends do, right? Steal their boyfriend's food?"

Aqualad's chuckle died down into a small smile, then, out of nowhere he planted a sweet kiss on her small, cutesy nose. "Right."

Raven couldn't help the blush that grew on her cheeks from the heartwarming sensation. She suddenly felt bad for being so dry and dispassionate to the boy. She was starting to get the impression that he really loved her or at least the this-world her. It wasn't his fault that his real girlfriend was gone.

With these thoughts, she touched her face and felt that it was still warm therefore probably still red. Embarrassed, she slowly turned her head to the opposite side once again, this time catching another glance at a now fuming Robin. The disappointment on his face caught Raven off-guard, causing her schoolgirl giddiness to vanish.

But before she could say anything, Cyborg's manly yet somehow childish voice rang. "Now back to you two," he said, pointing at the two dark-haired birds. "What's up with the memory loss?"

"Yeah, you're really starting to creep me out," Beast Boy admitted with a shudder. Raven glared at him next to her, causing him to laugh out in fear. "Hehe, sorry."

Speedy took a sip of his stark white milk which left a silly mustache over his top lip and said, "I think they just finally dabbled in a couple of illegal substances. Messed with their brains."

"Not everyone's a heroin addict like you, Speedy," Bumblebee added bluntly. "They're probably just burnt out. It's only October and senior year's already kicking my butt."

"Hey, I only did heroin once," Speedy retorted and pointed an authoritative finger at her.

"Could it be possible that they are both only tired?" Starfire threw in naively. Raven and Robin were about to agree with her statement when—

"Or maybe they're the ones who killed Terra last night," Kid Flash expressed nonchalantly as he pulled and tugged at his cheesy slice of pizza with his hungry teeth.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and eyeballed him in complete stillness and silence. Why would he say such a thing? All it did was remind them that someone that was once close to them was gone. Beast Boy couldn't take the sudden pain that hit from the reminder and abruptly stood up to storm out of the room.

"What?" Kid Flash asked ignorantly and stopped chewing on the rubbery pizza as everyone continued to glare at him. He was slowly beginning to grow uncomfortable under their piercing stares.

"I'll go check on BB," Bumblebee offered and jogged after the depressed teenager.

"What the hell, Wally?" Speedy soon asked what everyone was thinking.

"What?" he repeated himself, truly not realizing the magnitude of his accusation. "That's the only believable thing I can think of. We know they don't do drugs, we know they're not clones, we know they can handle the pressure of school, we know being tired doesn't give you Alzheimer's, and we know they aren't from some alternate universe or something crazy like that. But we don't know who murdered Terra."

"Why would they kill Terra?" Aqualad scowled and wrapped a comforting arm around Raven's shoulders as if she needed his protection. "She was all of our friend."

"Okay, look," Robin suddenly rushed, causing everyone to gaze at him with nervous pulses, "we did not kill Terra. Starfire is right. We're just tired. Now, please, leave it alone."

"Whatever you say, Rob," Cyborg said before stuffing a whole slice of pepperoni pizza in his mouth. "Just make sure you're at the game tonight. It's going to be a big one."

* * *

Sitting at home with their parents wasn't exactly ideal for Robin or Raven. Both for very different reasons. In Robin's case, despite the fact that he missed his parents dearly and always figured he'd do anything just to have one last day with them, he couldn't actually bring himself to enjoy them. He knew they weren't real, and the closer he grew to them and the more memories he made with them, the harder his grieving would be when he got back home.

Raven was the complete opposite. She had no desire to spend time with Trigon and knew she wouldn't regret it. He was commanding, coldhearted, and unbelievably powerful. All of the minions and servants in their house did everything he asked and his loyal, satanic followers bowed down at his feet like he was the Pope. Raven just thought it was all too pitiful to be true.

Because of this, they decided to take Cyborg up on his request to attend the game. With the day they were having, maybe a good Friday night, football game would bring some much needed fun. It wasn't like they had any big leads on who was responsible for them being here. And even if it was Red X, they had no idea where to find him outside of school. So, they just had to wait. And waiting could get tedious.

Not to mention, on top of everything else that happened that day, they'd both gotten in trouble in their very last class of the day. Ironically, the only class they had together was the final one due to the fact that it was an elective. _Home economics to be exact_. The teacher who was apparently an all human version of Mother-Mae-Eye, someone Robin had been dreading all day, had ordered him to remove his black sunglasses. But in fear of revealing his identity and just because the thought made him uncomfortable, he simply and kindly refused. So, she simply and kindly kicked him out of class. Raven, being the firecracker and loyal friend she was, decided to take up for him, which got her sent out as well. In the end, all they had to show for it was early morning, Saturday detention.

"Here come the lovebirds," Beast Boy commented playfully as Raven and Robin sashayed up the bleachers towards their friends, but before he could say anything else, Aqualad elbowed him in the gut. "Ow! What'd you do that for, dude?"

"Raven's my girlfriend, you know," the long-haired boy replied with a sigh, then focused his worried eyes on the two marching up the stairs. Robin _was_ extremely close to Raven's body. It was almost as if it was taking everything within him not to wrap his arms around her. They both had secretive, reddened looks on their faces like there was something they didn't want the others to know. For some reason, Raven had been so against him picking her up for the game, claiming that she'd be _"just fine"_ riding with Robin. And was that _Robin's_ letterman jacket she was wearing over her shapely yet fragile body?! It was all just so suspicious.

But, nevertheless, she was his girlfriend and he truly loved her. Even though Robin was her best friend, nothing could trump their relationship and the memories they'd made together. All those long walks by the bay, quiet nights swimming around the pool, and long talks over tea meant the world to him. She might've been dark and creepy to everyone else, but that was exactly what he loved about her. So, he was just going to suck it up, and ignore her weird actions today.

"Hey, Beautiful," he said when the two finally reached their bench. "You can sit right here next to me."

Raven glanced back to catch Robin's reaction to the boy's offer, but it was indifferent. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not. She looked back into Aqualad's dark, anxious eyes and finally gave him a tiny, genuine smile. "Okay."

Robin grunted lowly to himself before scooting down the aisle to sit in between Speedy and Beast Boy. "So, who's winning?" he said in an attempt to get back in everyone's good grace.

"So far, we are," Speedy started before taking a bite out of his ketchup covered hot dog, "but it's a close game."

"Cyborg's put up a lot of points already for it to just be the second quarter," Kid Flash added and munched loudly on his cherry red snow cone. "Hopefully, he can keep it up."

"May I ask why you're eating a snow cone in sixty-degree weather," Bumblebee questioned the redhead with an irritated tone. All of the slurping and gulping he was doing was driving her out of her mind.

"The Hive Academy is one of our biggest rivals. JCH has lost every game with them for the last twenty years. I really hope we beat them today. For her sake," Beast Boy softly added. Everyone could tell his mood was still down from earlier. Coming to the football games and supporting Cy was one of his and Terra's favorite kind of date last season.

"Where's Starfire?" Robin enquired next. Raven rolled her eyes at his typical-Boy Blunder question. Of course, even in this world he still wanted to worry about the happy-go-lucky redhead.

"She's a cheerleader. Obviously, she's cheering," the secretly jealous, violet-haired girl answered for the others.

Robin looked down to the track to see a festive Starfire jumping and bouncing happily around with her red and yellow pom-poms shaking violently in her hands. But even as he looked at the tall, happy girl, his mind was on Raven. What was her problem all of a sudden? Was she angry because he mentioned Starfire? Or was she just being her usual sarcastic self?

"Go, Cy! Don't stop! Don't let them get you!" Speedy jumped up and shouted out the blue. The others turned their attention to where he was looking and saw Cyborg dashing down the bright green turf with the football tight in his grip. The other team's players were hard on defense and close to tackling him but he wasn't stopping till he reached the goal line.

Kid Flash sprouted up next, dropping red, flavored ice all over a now infuriated Bumblebee. "Come on you got it, Cy! You're so close!"

Everyone watched with anticipation as the fast quarterback grew closer and closer to the white line. He swerved through the crowds of people trying to attack him and held onto the oddly shaped ball with all he had.

"Woo! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Everyone cheered and clapped when his quick foot finally crossed the line.

"Yeah, that's my boy. Four touchdowns in a row," Speedy cried out happily, clapping his hands so hard in the process, his whole body flushed scarlet.

"Wow, Speedy. Such school spirit," Raven droned sarcastically and watched as Cyborg celebrated by whipping and nae-nae-ing on the field. Then, she continued to watch as his happy mood vanished the moment the referee blew a whistle calling some kind of penalty.

"I'm a basketball player, Raven. I gotta support my fellow athletes," Speedy replied with a cynical tone, then softly hit Robin in the chest. "By the way, Coach wants us to be at practice first thing in the morning, Grayson."

"I can't," Robin mumbled in embarrassment. "Raven and I have Saturday detention."

"What?!" Beast Boy, Speedy, and Aqualad shouted in shock. They weren't necessarily surprised about Raven, but Robin was a Gary Stu who would never even so much as walk the halls without a hall pass. He was punctual to each class every single day, made all A's, followed all the rules, and was even student body president. What could he have possibly done to get detention?

Robin shrank from the shame and gulped when Raven sent him a deadly glare for telling their misfortune. "Uh, yeah."

"Coach is going to have your ass," Speedy chuckled with a serious face, then turned his attention back to the game. "Wait, what's happening? Why didn't they give us our points?"

Kid Flash, who was staring intensely at the game, broke his trance to reply, "Apparently the ref called a penalty for Cyborg's touchdown celebration."

"Hey, that's not fair," Beast Boy whined and looked at the scoreboard. Without the extra touchdown, the score would be tied up since the other team had just scored their own touchdown right before Cyborg's big moment. "It's our senior years, dudes. We have to win this game."

"Looks like Sparky's pretty upset," Bumblebee said and shook her head at the dirty nature of this highly-anticipated game. Hive Academy always found a way to cheat themselves to victory, even if it included paying off the referees.

"Yeah, he's pissed," Kid Flash mumbled. They all watched sympathetically as Cyborg blew up on the referee and ferociously removed his helmet. Next, they saw the coach fussing at him and after him the referee, then they watched as the tall, athletic teen threw his helmet to the ground, causing it to bounce back up at a weird angle. In the end, he stormed off the field and towards the empty fieldhouse.

Robin glanced down at the track again and saw the cheerleaders biting their lips and looking around like they were lost and confused, especially Starfire. She almost looked scared and even her skin was as red as her hair. This game must've really meant a lot to everyone for them to be freaking out so badly. It was only the second quarter; they still had time to come back. It really wasn't that serious.

"I'm going to the restroom," Kid Flash said, breaking the tense silence.

Beast Boy watched as he scooted past everyone and skipped down the stairs and decided to follow suit. "I'm going to concession. Anybody want something?"

No one answered. So, Robin decided to speak for everyone. "I think we're good." Beast Boy nodded in return and took off after Kid Flash.

Meanwhile, Cyborg was trying to get himself together inside the weight room of the fieldhouse. But it was no use. He was angry as all outdoors and couldn't even bring himself to face the other team again. Not to mention, adrenaline was coursing through his body at full speed. All he wanted to do was make his dad proud. One of his father's biggest wishes in life was to see his son lead his alma mater to beating the Hive. Just a few months before, his father was accidently killed during an experiment at his science lab. His death sent Cyborg into a spiraling depression, but the passionate teen soon realized that his father wouldn't want him to give up on life. He'd want him to keep pushing and follow all his dreams. And one of his biggest dreams was being the quarterback that led his team to the biggest win of their school history. He knew they could beat Hive Academy. Jump City High had a much stronger team and a bigger heart when it came to football. Even if the Hive had better defense, nothing could tackle their school spirit and ambition.

Well, nothing except cheating referees.

"Argh!" he belted out in anger before trudging over to a dumbbell bench and loading heavy weights onto the bar. His rage grew with each clank of metal as he added more and more weight plates. In the end, the weight on the bar totaled to 500 pounds which was exceedingly heavy for his body. But he didn't care. He lay back on the cushion of the bench and prepared to use all his strength to lift the bar. He knew he needed a spotter, but he wasn't exactly thinking rationally at the moment.

"Argh…got to…lift it…" he cried and struggled to lift the heavy weight. The highest he ever pressed was 300 and that was on a good day. He had no idea what he was thinking trying to lift 200 more than that.

"Got to make pops…proud…" he continued to strain and strain until he felt a burning pain inside his biceps and neck muscles. He was about to give up, but then thought about his dad once again. He could hear his voice saying _never give up son_ and couldn't bring himself to quit.

He kept thinking maybe one of his teammates or a coach would come in to check on him, but so far that hadn't happened. Usually at least Hot Spot or Mammoth would help keep him calm during practice or an intense game, but even they hadn't cared enough to make sure he was okay. And that only fueled his anger.

"Stupid teammates…" he said and continued pushing, but the bar wouldn't budge. He closed his watering eyes shut and tried yet again. "Stupid coaches…stupid referees!"

Suddenly, he heard something similar to steel fall to the ground with a sound that resembled the metal weights clanking against one another. His startled, steel gray eyes popped opened and looked around the room as best they could from his position, but he didn't see anyone or anything other than the heavy bar above him.

He blinked and tried to calm himself down. It was probably just one of his teammates coming to check on him. That's what he told himself over and over again. But when he opened his eyes again, a masked face with a black hood was hovering quietly above him and the bar. "Oh snap!" he bellowed and tried to stand up, but hit his forehead on the hard metal instead.

The masked figure shook its head at his clumsiness and continued to stare down at him. Cyborg groaned in pain, rubbed his throbbing forehead, and eyed the figure angrily. "BB? Hot Spot? Mammoth? Is that you? Stop playing, man. You're creeping me out."

The figure continued to stand in silence before placing gloved hands onto the metal bar. Cyborg squinted his eyes in confusion, then let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, you just want to spot me. Why didn't you just say so?"

The figure lifted a shoulder as if to say _"I don't know"_ and pretended to help Cyborg lift the bar. But yet and still the bar didn't budge. Cyborg's blood began to boil.

"Why can't I lift this stupid thing!" he bellowed and pushed with all his might. To his surprise, the bar actually slightly rose off the hinges. The masked figure above him aided in his victory as he continued to wildly push the bar up and down. "Boo-yah! That's what I'm talk—"

 _Crack!_ He never finished his statement as the five-hundred-pound bar was suddenly crushing every bone in his neck. Cyborg's eyes went wide in fear and pain, but he couldn't make a peep. He tried to breathe, but he could no longer find the oxygen in the room. He pried his closing eyes opened and stared up at the person who'd dropped the bar on top of him. He tried to cry out _help_ but it was no use. Before he could try again, the figure lifted up a butcher's knife and started plunging him right in the chest with no shame or hesitation. Dark, warm blood splattered and spurted everywhere as the killer lifted its arm up higher and higher each time, making each wound more and more vicious.

Then, it stopped. Just like that. It silently watched in content as Cyborg's right arm twitched in death and his blank, gray eyes stared into oblivion. It turned crisply and slowly walked away as if nothing ever happened. All the while Cyborg's lifeless body lay bleeding endlessly on the bench. In the distance, cheers and claps could be heard as the Hive Academy scored yet another touchdown against the Jump City High Titans. It was a stark difference in comparison to the complete, unnerving silence of the weight room. Little did Jump City High know, a game wasn't the only thing they were losing tonight.

* * *

 **A/N: There it was. The first real murder in the AU. Hopefully, it was cool. This is going to set off the rest of the murders, so the rest of the chapters will (hopefully) be more fun/interesting. I didn't want to make it too gory, and I didn't want to kill Cyborg first but it just seemed to fit right with the storyline I'm going for. There'll be more of a chase scene next chapter :) Btw, let's pretend Jason and Robin are only maybe a year or two apart. Also, let's pretend Robin isn't Nightwing yet even though Bruce has already adopted Tim lol. Thanks for reading and the reviews! And if you're reading this, thank you for that too :)**

 _ **: Hey, glad to see you're still here lol. The AquaRae thing was a last min decision, but I think it adds to the plot so I'm glad I put it in there. I honestly never thought about a KF and Star relationship. It might work. I'll definitely keep it in mind!**_

 _ **runner: Very tedious. Dk if it's interesting yet lol hopefully it's interesting enough. Thanks for the review :)**_


	5. The Breakfast Club

**5\. The Breakfast Club**

 **Warning: Sorry if you hate long chapters lol. Take a break in the middle, grab a snack, or whatever. Thanks for reading :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters :)**

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"Guys, where's Cyborg?" Beast Boy asked casually during the last minute of the fourth quarter before popping a piece of salty popcorn into his mouth. "He never came back."

"Hmm," Bumblebee muttered and scanned the field for her boyfriend, "you're right. That's weird."

"I don't think he wants to see the score now," Speedy dragged dryly with his chin in his palm and his eyes staring blankly at the game. The score was now fifty-two to twenty-one…and they had twenty-one. All hope was gone with only thirty-seven seconds left in the game and their star quarterback missing. Needless to say, Speedy and Kid Flash were no longer feeling the school spirit, and Raven and Robin were still just ready to get back to their universe. Seemed like over the last week, they'd heard nothing but bad news. It was starting to drag them both down.

"Come on, let's go," Speedy growled angrily and stood up to leave the disappointing night behind. KF and Bumblebee followed closely after him. Beast Boy glanced at the electronic scoreboard one last time and put on a somber frown before jogging after the others.

"You ready to go, Raven?" Aqualad's voice startled Raven back into reality. She had been so stuck on figuring out how to get them out of there, she had almost forgotten they were still there.

She looked at Aqualad's waiting face and then at Robin's disappointed one. _'What is his problem? Why does it seem like he hates Aqualad's guts?'_ "Uh, yeah," she finally answered her partner, much to his delight. Then, she turned back to Robin. "I'll see you in the morning, Robin."

Robin's heart dropped as the long-haired boy grabbed Raven's hand tightly and led her down the tall steps. They looked so perfect together. But he knew he and her looked even better together. He couldn't believe she was falling for all this and giving into Aqualad like he was her real boyfriend. He understood that she had to keep up the act or else they'd be more suspicious, but she was starting to seem as if she was actually enjoying their relationship. All he could do was wonder if this would just make her pursue the Atlantean once they returned home. His heart dropped further at the thought. He solemnly hoped that wouldn't be the truth.

On a whim, he sprinted down the steps, jumping over two and three at a time until he reached Aqualad's Corvette. He tapped on the passenger window as the other boy started the engine and prepared to put the sports car in drive.

Raven looked up into Robin's covered eyes with anxious breath and wondered what he could possibly want. She slowly rolled down her window with the touch of a button and tried to keep her tone dry when she asked, "What is it, Boy Blunder?"

Robin choked on his own silence. He actually didn't know why he'd stopped the two from leaving. It was just a random impulse. He didn't want to see her leave, especially with another guy. He was alone in this world and she was his only friend. He believed that meant they should never be separated.

' _Or am I just envious,'_ he thought to himself, then shook his head ferociously in disagreement.

"Uh, Robin?" Aqualad's puzzled but patient voice called from the driver's seat.

Robin looked up from his trembling hands and shivered from their stabbing stares. "I-I just wanted to tell you, you can keep the jacket."

Raven unconsciously pulled the thick, varsity jacket closer to her frigid body and blushed at the reminder that she was wearing _Robin's_ jacket. She remembered times when she'd notice Starfire prancing around in one of his uniform tops or t-shirts and was jealous of the love and comfortability they shared. That same jealousy had brought her many tears on many nights, but it was always alleviated when him and her shared their intimate moments on the roof the next morning.

Raven sighed at the distant images and the butterflies that were suddenly fluttering in her stomach. Then, she quickly regained her composure and put on a serious face. "I was fully aware of that when you let me leave wearing it."

Robin's cheeky, bashful grin fell. He nodded his head silently, then mumbled with a shaky voice, "Oh, yeah. Right."

Raven rolled her eyes at his mindless actions and said with a monotone, "Good night, Robin."

"Good," he began to whisper but Aqualad zoomed off before he could finish, "night, Raven."

Suddenly, he felt the wind being knocked out of him and two small, but strong arms wrapped tightly around his torso. He struggled to pry the limbs off him only to see a brightly grinning Starfire directly in front of his face. "Robin, I'm so glad you stayed after to take me home!"

Robin took a small step back, giving him much needed space, and lifted an eyebrow. "Huh?"

Starfire's expression went from blissful to confused as she raised a finger to her chin. "On Fridays, you normally drive me home after the games. Then, you proceed to give me a good night kiss on the cheek. But last Friday, you did not stay, and I feared this Friday, you would not either."

Robin's face was stagnant before he decided to put on one of Raven's signature fake smiles. "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I must've been busy last week." Obviously, in this universe he was still courting the naive girl. He wondered if his alternate-self liked Starfire as much as Aqualad seemed to like Raven.

"It is fine," she cooed with a smile. Then, almost instantly seemed baffled again. "Where's the jacket of letters that you usually drape around my shoulders?"

Robin gulped. _Uh-oh_. There he went messing up tradition again. Whenever his alternate-self returned back to this world, he'd never hear the end of this. "I, uh, I let Raven borrow it."

A small frown slowly graced Starfire's face as she seemed to come to some sort of realization. "Oh," she uttered softly and glanced at the rocky concrete. "Are you courting Friend Raven as well?"

"What? No!" Robin unintentionally shouted, causing the green-eyed girl to quickly look up from the trashed ground.

"But do boyfriends not give their girlfriends their clothes to show ownership?" she asked with an innocent, girly tone, her frown deepening into her pretty face.

"I just…she was just…" Robin started but couldn't think of a good enough excuse. "She found it! Yeah, she found it. In my car and she wouldn't give it back."

"Oh," Starfire mumbled once again, then suddenly livened up. "That is okay. Friend Raven is your best friend and should be allowed to wear your jacket as well."

"Yeah," Robin laughed in nervous relief and reached into his pocket for his keys. This was going to be tougher than he ever imagined. "I'm ready if you are."

Meanwhile, it seemed as if all Aqualad could think about was the jacket as well. "Did Robin give you his jacket or did you ask for it?"

Raven let out a very audible, annoyed sighed. "What is up with you guys and the jacket? I was cold and I left my jacket at home, so he let me borrow his. It's not that big of a deal."

Aqualad sighed as he pulled into the empty, circle driveway of her fairly large home. "Raven…" he drifted quietly towards the floor of the car the moment he shifted the gear into park.

Raven waited and waited, but he never continued. So, she impatiently spat out, "What?"

Aqualad turned to face her with the saddest grimace she'd ever witnessed. Her eyes grew large with sympathy as she suddenly regretted being so mean to him. "I think," he started and lowered his head once again in blatant pain, "I think we should take a break."

Raven fought to swallow her heart down her throat. Why did this hurt so badly? She had no feelings for Aqualad. At least not in that manner. She guessed it came from the realization that she'd never be able to keep a boyfriend. Thanks to her signature sarcasm and unemotional, blunt attitude, she messed up every single relationship she ever had. No one wanted her, not even her mother. And that only strengthened her fear of dying alone.

"May I ask why?" she finally asked with sorrow lingering from her raspy voice.

Aqualad exhaled deeply, placing his handsome face in his trembling palms. "Raven, I know Robin is your best friend, and I knew that when I asked you to be my girlfriend. But what I didn't know before was how much you truly love him."

Raven's small, pale ears perked up like a happy puppy at his last statement. She side-eyed him with a shocked look on her face, but he still had his own eyes in his palm. "I don't like Robin in that way, Aqualad. Where did you get that from?"

"You don't have to try to convince me, Raven," he breathed and turned his attention to whatever was outside his window. "I understand. Maybe one day you'll love me, but now…"

"Aqualad, you don't have to do this," Raven tried to reason with him. Where did he even get the idea that she loved Robin from? Did her alternate-self and Robin's alternate-self have something going on that they didn't know about? Or did the two of them actually act like two people hiding their love from each other? She definitely doubted it was the latter.

"Good night, Raven," he voiced firmly and moved to unlock the car. Raven gasped at his boldness and turned to look at him yet again, but he refused to acknowledge her gaze.

"Fine," she grunted and removed herself from the vehicle. The boy wasted no time speeding off and within seconds his fast car had vanished down the road. To her surprise, she felt tears brimming at the edges of her eyelids, but she couldn't bring herself to cry. She just felt so alone and vulnerable. Just as she did back home. At least here she had a boyfriend. Now she was completely alone and even more so in this universe since the only person she truly knew was Robin. He always seemed to be there to save her when she needed him. But where was he now?

 _Snap!_ A twig snapped in the background. She swiftly spun around and looked at the trees and bushes surrounding the front of the mini mansion. But there was no one there. Wind rustled behind her, blowing her long hair in the chilly breeze. There was something extremely eerie and creepy about this universe. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it even gave her, the queen of darkness, the heebie jeebies. And that was saying a lot.

" _Meow_!" a black cat with stark white eyes purred and scattered across her feet. Raven almost crapped bricks from the unexpectedness. She took a deep calming breath and hurriedly dug in her pocket for her keys. She prayed to Azar her house key wouldn't be hard to find on this cold, dark night. Before heading to the door, she turned to look back at Robin's driveway. His car was still missing which meant he was still missing, and for some reason, that unsettled her.

##############################################################################

"Ugh, why do we have to be here at eight o'clock on a Saturday morning?" Raven groaned as her and Robin dragged into the main school building early the next morning. They had ridden together once again and were now heading to the office to see what their punishment would be.

Moments later, "Here's the room. Here's a book. Enjoy," the secretary screeched annoyingly.

"Wait, we're just supposed to sit in the room for two hours doing nothing?" The old, graying lady only nodded in response to the ebony-haired boy and continued to smack her gum, much to his and Raven's annoyance. "Well, that doesn't make much sense."

The secretary chewed noisily and uttered, "Welcome to Saturday detention. And remember, we're watching you."

"Ugh," Raven scowled lowly and snatched the small paper with the room number from the lady's grip. Robin followed after as she stomped out the office and into the long, empty hall of red and yellow lockers. The school seemed dead without all the chatters and laughter of the students from yesterday. It almost freaked them out.

"Are we the only ones here?" Robin breathed when he finally caught up to her fast pace.

"Hi, guys." _"Ah!"_ This time Raven and Robin both screamed in fear as a voice called from behind them. They both quickly spun around only to be face to face with a smirking Speedy and a depressed-looking Aqualad.

"Man, you guys are jumpy," Speedy pestered with that cocky grin still on his lips.

"Don't do that!" Raven roared as quietly as possible and restrained herself from strangling the smug look off the redhead's face.

Robin was much calmer and relieved to know that they weren't alone in the enormous, spooky building. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Told you we have basketball practice," Speedy said matter-of-factly then looked down at his phone for the time. "Which I need to get to now before I get hit with fifty extra suicides. Catch you chickens later!" And with that, he took off down the intersecting hall in his red and black practice gear.

"What about you, Aqualad?" Raven asked carefully. The boy was obviously still upset about their break up. His emotions were written all over his face.

"I come swim laps every Saturday morning. It relaxes me after a long week," he said almost as matter-of-factly as Speedy. "You know that, Raven."

"Oh, yeah…" _Damn it._ She messed up yet again. "It slipped my mind."

"I bet," he dropped sarcastically and moved to walk away. "See you around."

"Don't you kids have somewhere to go?" a deep, familiar voice said from behind them. This time they had to stop themselves from jumping.

Robin turned around to face the voice and was rendered speechless. He nudged Raven in her side to make her turn around and when she did, she was speechless as well. The man's face somehow resembled Slade's masked one. One of his eyes was a bronze almost orange color and the other was a deep black. There was even a rough scar going straight down the middle of his face from his hairline to his chin. His hair was white, thin, and brushed back and his voice was just as cold and sinister as his other-world counterpart. They both simultaneously glanced down at his name badge. _Mr. Wilson._ Yep, this was definitely Slade.

"Uh, yeah," Robin rushed nervously, grabbing Raven's shaky hand in the process. "We're heading there now. Come on, Raven." Raven didn't resist holding onto Robin's hand as he pulled her down the hall. In fact, once they reached the room, she didn't want to let it go. Something about his touch electrified her cold heart and made her want to fly around with giddiness. His grip on her was so caring and protective. It made her feel safe and like he never wanted to let her go. It was definitely a good thing she didn't have her powers or else the whole school would probably be destroyed by now.

"This is it," his voice brought her back down from her high when they finally stopped in front of the room. "Room 100."

Raven stared at the old, wooden door ahead of them. Cobwebs were growing in the corners, the once golden doorknob was rusting, and the smell of old books was creeping from under it. "Why does it look like it hasn't been used since the school was built?"

Robin looked back at her frightened face and smirked, "Welcome to Saturday detention."

Violet eyes were suddenly looking at her brain. "Just open the door, Smarty Pants. We don't have all day."

The usually courageous team leader fearfully tapped the door, hoping it would budge. He didn't want to admit it but he was actually scared to open the door. He was even more scared to see what lied behind it. There was no telling in this creepy place.

" _Ahem."_ He looked back at Raven, who was now smirking at him, with embarrassed blue eyes. Thankfully, he was still wearing his dark, tinted lenses which hopefully constricted her view of his vivid pupils.

"It's locked," he chuckled nervously, causing her to roll her eyeballs once again.

"Move it, Boy Blunder. Let someone who's not scared of the boogeyman handle this," she teased with a monotone and twisted the old, rusty door knob, but he was right. It was locked. So, she gathered all the strength she had and pushed and tugged on the door until it finally creaked open.

"Dang," Robin coughed and coughed as dust and decaying smells filled both of their lungs. "When's the last time anyone opened that door?"

"Ugh!" Raven exclaimed as she strolled in with the top of her black cardigan covering her mouth and nose. "What died in here? I hope a rat and not a human."

 _Cough, cough_. "Sure does smell like a human," Robin uttered to himself and tried to regain his composure as the dust settled in the air. He eyed the room and noticed bookcases on top of bookcases, old televisions, and round, movie reels. Old, doodled-on desks lined the room. Some were even stacked on top of each other. An old, dusty, teacher's desk sat at the front of the class and was ordained with an old school, rotating globe. There were a few boxes full of old lost and return items that were never returned, and an old rotary phone in the far corner. This had to be some sort of utility room or something similar back in the younger days of the school.

 _Slam_! The door suddenly slammed shut behind their backs. They both jumped and spun around to see who was there, but there was no one to be seen. Robin immediately rushed over and pulled on the door knob, but once again it wouldn't budge. Raven gave it a try next, but from the inside it didn't even seem to twist. It was almost as if someone was holding onto it from the outside. Raven peaked through the beige, spider web-covered blinds hanging over the door's window, but there was strangely no one there.

"You've got to be kidding me," she murmured and crossed her arms over her full chest. "We're stuck."

"Are you sure?" Robin asked and tried and tried again, but to no avail.

"No, Robin, I just assume the door won't open because I was twisting the door knob the wrong way," she deadpanned, then hissed, "Yes, I'm sure, you idiot! I tried everything."

"Then, what are we supposed to do? Just sit here?" he retorted and threw his usually gloved hands up in defense. "I'm no quitter, Raven. I won't accept the fact that we're stuck."

Raven placed her small hand on her forehead and plopped into one of the many desks in the room. "I'm sure we're not stuck, okay? Maybe they just locked the doors so we wouldn't try to leave during detention. I'm sure they'll come get us when our two hours are up."

Robin sighed and sat in the desk next to her. His long legs could barely fit under the surface but he squeezed them under anyway. "You're right, Raven. Sorry for freaking out. This place is just so creepy. I can't shake this weird feeling about it."

"You feel that way, too?" she asked, much to his surprise. "That's all I could think about last night. I couldn't even sleep. I just kept having this feeling that something bad was going to happen."

"Yeah, me too," Robin dragged after a minute of silence and sat pondering in his desk. Why were they here? Better yet, what was here? Where exactly were they? And how'd they get here? Slade nor Mother-Mae-Eye seemed to be very threatening in this universe. Mean? Maybe. Dangerous? Not really. But there was something about Red X aka Jason. He had to know something they didn't which made him their prime suspect.

"Where were you last night?" Raven's voice ended the long, unwanted silence between the two.

Robin raised a dark eyebrow and observed her out the corner of his eye. "What do you mean?"

"When I got home, you weren't there. This places freaks me out so much that I was worried, so I waited up for you. I glanced out my bedroom window every five minutes just to see if your car was in the driveway. But you didn't come home till midnight."

"Yeah, so?" Robin probed dumbly. Why should she care? She had ridden home with Aqualad. The stupid guy who called her _Sting-Rae_ and followed her every move. Why was she so worried about where he was when she had a boyfriend?

Raven grimaced at his jerkish attitude and looked down at her tapping fingers. "Where were you?"

"Starfire and I went walking along the bay," he admitted, even though he honestly didn't want to. But he couldn't bring himself to lie to Raven. "Apparently, I take her home after the games every Friday just to kiss her good night. Apparently, it's some sort of tradition in our relationship, because apparently…we're still dating in this universe…"

Raven tried her best to hold back the saddened sigh that wanted to escape her soft lips. She should've known that if he ever had another chance to be with the redhead with the model-like good looks, he'd jump on it. It was predictable, and she knew she could never compete. In fact, their friendship had probably only strengthened over the last few weeks because he needed someone to take his mind off the tall girl after she dumped him. Raven was the only fool in the Tower who would listen and he took advantage of that. But deep down, she knew she only did it because she felt something strong-natured for him. It might've been small, especially in comparison to what him and Star once had, but it was there.

"Yeah," he started again, "you have Aqualad, so thankfully I have someone, too."

"What do you mean I have Aqualad?" she snapped at his ignorance.

Robin hunched his shoulders and replied, "I don't know, Raven. Ever since we've been here, it seems like you'd rather be with him than me."

"Are you jealous?" she asked with wide eyes.

Robin laughed in exasperation and spat, "No, I just don't want you to get too into this. You guys kiss and hold hands and you actually enjoy it."

"Robin, he's my boyfriend!" she screamed back at him. She couldn't believe he was actually serious right now.

"Raven, listen to yourself!" he shouted back at her, his cheeks reddening from the passion in his voice. "He's not your boyfriend. _He_ is not real!"

Raven sat in her desk speechless. She stared at the old, blacked out chalkboard ahead of them and began to take in what Robin was saying. Aqualad wasn't real in this life. None of their friends here were their actual friends. And she was slowly starting to forget that. She cursed herself for being sad over their breakup and jealous of the time Robin had spent with this world's Starfire. None of that would matter when they got back to their universe. It was as simple as that.

" _This_ ," Robin started once again, pointing around the room in the process, "is not real. But what we have is. Our friendship, our bond is very real, Raven. And I don't want to mess that up over some alternate versions of our friends."

Raven sat in silence playing with her fingers as Robin stared intensely at her, waiting for a response. "Well," she whispered softly after a minute, "you don't have to worry about me and Aqualad anymore. He broke up with me last night."

"Really?" Robin rushed almost immediately. He hated to show it, but he was slightly happy. She wasn't the only one who kept forgetting none of this was real and seeing her with Aqualad crushed his spirits.

Raven glowered at his obvious joy from the news. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Raven, but why would he do such a thing?" he wondered cautiously, knowing she could blow up on him at any minute.

Raven faltered before answering his question, but then figured she might as well tell him. It wasn't like he would believe she felt that way about him anyway. And even if he did, he certainly wouldn't reciprocate the feelings.

But her answer was cut short by a notification from his phone. He looked down at the bright, iPhone screen, read his notification slowly, and almost dropped the fragile device in his hand.

Raven squinted her eyes at him and placed a hand on his now shivering shoulder. "Everything okay, Robin?"

Robin hesitated to reply. He just couldn't bring himself to say what he'd just read, but she had to know. "They found Cyborg dead in the fieldhouse last night after the game."

"What?!" she shouted in disbelief. "What happened? Did he kill himself because of the game?"

"No, actually, says here he was murdered," the boy confessed solemnly. "They found a 500-pound barbell crushing his neck and seven stab wounds to his chest area. They think he might've died of asphyxiation before he could bleed to death."

"Oh my gosh," Raven gasped and slumped in her seat. She couldn't stop the tears that were swallowing her eyes before she turned to look at her usually fearless leader. "Do you think he was killed in our world, too?"

Robin took a deep breath and tried to prevent himself from bawling real, alligator tears. "I don't know, Raven. There's a possibility."

"Oh, Azar, no," she cried out, her usually calm breath choppy. "Not Terra _and_ Cyborg."

Robin looked down at the screen of his phone once again. "We have to find out who's doing this before he claims all of us."

"I just don't know who it could be," Raven uttered, her voice quivering from the unbelieving tears and pain she was holding back.

"Says here they found some kind of note at the scene. Maybe it'll give us some sort of clue," Robin said in his assertive leader voice.

"What does it say?"

Robin squinted at the screen another time and tried to sound out the words. "I don't know. It's in some sort of foreign language."

"Let me see," Raven reached for the phone and read the words on the screen. "Looks like Pig Latin."

"How do you know Pig Latin?" Robin questioned out of curiosity. It wasn't like it was an everyday language.

Raven dropped her head slightly to the side in embarrassment. "I was watching this stupid cartoon last night called Something-something Go and they had a whole episode dedicated to it."

Robin couldn't stop the teasing smirk that grew on his face. "Serious, mature Raven watches cartoons. Can't wait to tell Beast Boy."

"What?" she retorted like it was something he shouldn't be shocked about. "I was just scared. But that's beside the point. We need to translate it and figure out what it says."

Robin grimaced and grunted, "You're right. I'll use my phone to translate it." He took a few seconds, his fingers moving at ferocious speeds. "Here. It says ' _an arrow is never afraid of shooting from the bow; but it is afraid of not reaching the target_ '. Apparently, it's a quote from someone named Mehmet Murat Ildan."

Raven narrowed her eyes and expressed out loud, "But what does it mean?"

" _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_ a high-pitched shrill suddenly filled the air. Sharp chills ran up Raven's and Robin's spines as their bodies were suddenly engulfed by fear. That scream had sounded so close yet so far and so full of pain and terror.

"What was that?" Raven murmured and slowly found herself holding onto Robin's broad shoulders for security.

Robin pounded his fist into his palm aggressively and said, "I don't know." Then, grabbed a hold of Raven's trembling hand to show that he was there and wasn't going to let anything happen to her. "But we're going to find out."

In the meantime, on the other side of the school, Speedy had heard the deafening shriek as well. But his teammates that were currently showering on either side of him seemed to be in their own worlds. He turned off his water and glanced around as they continued to clean themselves under the steamy, hard-falling water of the showers.

"Guys, don't tell me I was the only one who heard that?" he questioned with skepticism.

"Stop looking at everyone's balls, Harper," one of the guys teased as he rinsed shampoo out of his short, brown hair.

Speedy cackled wryly at the younger teen's remark, "Haha funny. Just don't forget to clean under yours." He twisted the shower knob so that the soothing water would caress his sore muscles once again. "Sweaty ball smell is not the scent to attract ladies, my man."

"And the smell of burnt heroin is?" the rude guy suggested as the others around began laughing at his comeback. Then, it seemed as if at the same time they all turned off their faucets and grabbed their towels to leave.

Speedy blew air in response as they all lingered out of the area and back into the locker room, leaving him all alone. "Whatever, dude," he finally uttered ashamedly to himself. He knew he had a problem, but he never thought his friends would make fun of it as much as they did. I mean, it wasn't that bad. He had only tried heroin maybe once or twice…or fifty times. But it was just a follow up drug when the marijuana didn't do much for him. It wasn't like he was addicted or anything.

At least that's what he told himself as he washed under his pits while his favorite argan oil conditioner sat lathering on top of his red bed of hair. He tried to laugh off what his teammates had said. His drug problem still didn't change how good of a basketball player or how much of a ladies' man he was. He still put up the most points at practice and had a different girl every week. So, basically, he was still the man around Jump City High.

 _Clank-clank._ Something metallic fell behind him, startling him out his thoughts. He turned the water off quickly and looked to see who was trying to scare him. He refused to fall for it and become the laughing stock of the team yet again.

"Give it up, guys. I know you're there," he called out. But heard nothing in return. "I said give it up. You can't scare the Speedster. It's impossible."

 _Still…nothing._ The secluded boy scratched his temple and hunched a defeated shoulder. Maybe it was just his imagination. He spun around with uncertainty and began rinsing his toned, muscular body off. He washed the rest of his conditioner out and took in the clean scent of his body. Afterwards, he twisted the knob, ending the raining water, grabbed a towel to dry off his hair, and grabbed another to wrap around his lower body.

"Oh crap," he yelped when he turned around and saw a masked figure in a black robe standing directly across from him. They were about four feet away from each other, but four feet was suddenly too close for Speedy's liking. His heart was now definitely racing at a much faster rate than normal. It felt as if he had taken his usual cardio workout up another ten notches.

He grabbed his chest and let out a nervous but relieved laugh, "I knew you guys were there. Told you, you can't trick the Speedster." The figure's only response was complete silence. "You know Halloween's Monday, right? You should ditch the Ghostface rip-off costume."

The figure only continued to stand there motionless. Speedy sighed in annoyance and began walking towards the locker room. He was about to leave the room when he realized he'd left his favorite comb in the shower. He cursed himself inwardly and spun around to quickly retrieve it. But to his surprise, the figure was gone. _Vanished_. Just like that. Now, Speedy had to admit he was scared. He looked around the room from the spot he was in, but saw no signs of another person. He took a deep breath and practically ran towards the shower to grab his comb, dropping the towel around his head in the process. He found his comb on the tiled floor of the shower and braced himself to turn around to leave, but when he did—

"Shit!" The robed person was directly behind him causing him to reflexively jab the figure right where his testicles should've been. "Stop popping up on people like that, dude." But the figure didn't even flinch. Speedy's face wrinkled in shock. What was this guy? _Superhuman?_

Suddenly, a sharp metal knife was right at the tip of Speedy's nose. He gasped in terror and took off running with his towel still wrapped around his torso. But the killer was just as fast as he was. He tried throwing trashcans and random basketballs at the figure, but it always found a way to dodge them. When Speedy finally reached the door that led to the locker room, he pulled and pulled and pulled, but it was locked.

"Why does the world hate me?!" he cried out, but ducked when the killer swung the knife right at his face. He took off to the side, running around the room looking for another possible way out. His luck was starting to seem bad as the only entrance and exit seemed to be the one, heavy metal door that had somehow locked after his teammates left. He ran back towards the door and decided to test his luck. He banged and banged and called for help, hoping that his teammates or coach or anybody would hear him. Then, he felt the presence of the killer getting closer and closer to his hot and sweaty back. He quickly flipped his body over, pressing his perspiring back against the cold metal door.

Speedy raised his hands up in surrender and pleaded, "Please. You can't kill me. I'm the biggest guy on campus. Everyone would lose their minds if I died." The killer only ran its finger along the blade of the knife in response. "I'll sleep with you, if you want!"

And with that ridiculous proposal, he dropped the towel from around his waist, revealing his nude body that so many girls had lusted for over the years. At this point, he was beyond desperate and would do just about anything to save his life.

The figure slightly tilted its head to the side as if it was contemplating the boy's offer. He was about to grin in relief when the killer raised his knife up once again and swung it towards the boy. He dipped his head yet again and tried to take off running but his legs and feet got caught up in the fallen, damp towel. Before he could stop himself, he was taking a nasty tumble to the ground. His head bounced violently off one of the metal trash bins he had thrown to get the killer off his track before it could hit the ground.

"Ah," he groaned lowly and tried to scoot out of the way of the figure that was now standing mockingly over him. But the redhead felt as if he was slowly losing consciousness from the hard hit to the head he had taken. He tried to roll over, but was caught off guard by a sharp, stabbing pain to his back.

"Ah!" he screamed out yet again, but this time because of the blinding darkness that was slowly taking over his vision. The darkness grew blacker and blacker with each deep, bloody wound the killer made. Tears rolled down Speedy's handsome face as he felt his soul being pulled towards the darkness. He tried to fight it, but it was no use. The biggest guy on campus was dying. And only seconds later, the biggest guy on campus was dead.

 **#########################################################################**

 **A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews. Idk if y'all like long chapters or not, but I'm making them long because I want this story to be done by Halloween. So, I don't want a million chapters. Sorry if they're too long lol I'll try to shorten them if you want.**

 _ **runner: Thanks! And, yeah, Raven and Robin kind of had feelings for each other before, but I was kind of going for the whole 'they don't really know what kind of feelings' thing. So, that's what this is supposed to do. Open their eyes in a sense. I was going for like a 3-day timeline and you can't really fall in love over 3 days, so that's why I did it like that lol. Glad you enjoyed it :)**_

 _ **: Yeah, they really are, and I think they're probably already causing irreparable damage lol. Yeah, I like to picture Jason as older or the same age, too. It just works well that way. Thanks for the review :)**_


	6. Slaughter High

**6\. Slaughter High**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans.**

 **-O-**

"Try to break the window!" Raven shouted as Robin repeatedly roundhouse kicked the old, brittle wood of the detention room door, trying his best to break them out of the cold, isolated room. They had tried everything from shoulder-butting it to using a broken floppy disc to try to separate the door from the hinges to using all their thigh and calf strength to kick it in. After that first scream, they'd heard two more brief ones. Those two were from a different voice. That meant something was going on to cause fright to the people in the building, and they had to figure out what.

"Watch out!" Robin screamed as he ran full force towards the rectangular window with an old, metal baseball bat he found in one of the file cabinets. To both of their surprise, the glass actually shattered. Robin took this as a sign to keep going, so he swung and swung and swung until most of the glass was gone.

Raven wasted no time reaching over to open the door from the outside. "Be careful." Robin bit his lip nervously as she attempted to avoid the shards of glass still hanging on the seal of the window. She managed to twist the knob and get the door open, but his warning came too late.

"Ow," she winced and pulled her hand back into the room after a pointy shard of glass sliced a lengthy part of her arm right above her wrist. Bright red blood instantly started seeping out of the wound, causing the injured girl to panic on the inside. She was so used to being able to heal herself, but now she was just going to have to deal with the pain and the scar. Plus, there was no way she was letting her fear show. Even without her powers, she had to keep her emotions under control.

"Let me see," Robin's fatherly tone of voice filled her ears. She slowly moved her arm towards him. Gently, he took it in his hand and inspected every detailed with intense, squinting eyes. His protective instincts kicked in, making him remove the white t-shirt he was wearing under his letterman jacket. Raven secretly lifted her head to peak her innocent, violet orbs up at his face as he wrapped the stark white shirt around her bloody forearm. Worry and determination was written all over it.

' _Wow, he really cares,'_ she thought to herself and glanced back at the ground, but it was so hard to keep her eyes from lingering towards his now bare, perfectly carved and sculptured chest and abs. She calmed the butterflies soaring in her stomach and snuck another look at his face as he continued to tend to her gash. For some reason, seeing how vexed he was and how protective he was over her made her…she didn't know…happy or something. She wasn't exactly sure, but it definitely made her grateful that she had him in her life.

When the doctoring boy finally tied the now red-stained shirt as tight as it could get, he looked down into her intense, staring eyes with his worried ones. Raven blushed as red as her blood when she realized she was gawking. "Thanks," she mumbled and looked away before her whole upper body could flush scarlet too.

Her blush was so cute and unexpected it made his cheeks turn red as well. "We can just sit here and wait till our time is up, if you're hurt. I don't want you running around in pain."

"No," Raven's eyebrows furrowed as she shook her head left to right, "it's fine. I'm fine. We have to make sure everyone's okay before someone else gets hurt."

Robin exhaled quietly and glanced down at the fresh wound that was still bleeding at a fast pace through the cotton material. Seeing her hurt strangled his heart and made him hurt just as much, if not more. "Are you sure, Raven?"

Raven could see the concern that was still riding his somber, highly attractive face. She didn't know what made her do it, but before she knew it, she'd grabbed his trembling hand and squeezed it inside her smaller one. "I'm okay, Robin." She couldn't help but beam a tiny-tiny smile when she noticed the flabbergasted look he was wearing now. "Let's go."

Then, she quickly pulled her hand away, causing him to intuitively reach out for her. He cleared his throat as he struggled to regain his composure and pretended as if he was reaching to dust something off her shoulder instead. Raven rolled her eyes with a smirk and started towards the door. He cursed silently and rushed after the girl that had taken it upon herself to explore the long, empty hall all alone.

"Where do you think that scream came from?" she asked when he finally caught up.

Robin looked around at their still, vacant surroundings. There was literally no telling in a school this big. But before he gave up hope, he had an idea. "Didn't Speedy say the team had basketball practice this morning? Maybe it came from the gym."

Raven raised a skeptical eyebrow. The first scream had seemed too high-pitched to be Speedy or Aqualad or any male for that matter. But it was worth a shot. "Let's check it out."

Robin didn't wait a second before he took off down the hall and around the corner at a fast pace. Raven tried her best to keep up without jogging, but Robin was obviously in his ambitious, leader mode. But she didn't blame him. The sooner they figured out the mysteries of this place, the sooner they could get back into the comfort and, hopefully, safety of their own universe.

When they finally reached the double doors of the gym, Raven's voice stopped Robin's hand before he could pull them open, "I'll check the gym. You should check out the locker room or showers just in case practice is over."

"Good idea," Robin uttered and spun away from the doors. But something made him stop in his place. He turned back to the girl who made his heart shiver and said with all seriousness. "Please be careful, Raven. Scream if you need me."

Raven's face was blank and showing annoyance but her heart was warmed by his care. "I can take care of myself, Robin. Now, go on."

And with that, she pulled one of the heavy, metal doors open to reveal bright lights and an empty basketball court. She stepped into the large, four-walled, red bleacher-filled room and shot her eyes towards each corner. At first glance, there seemed to be no one there. But she knew better than to assume, so she eased her feet further in and went to check under and behind the bleachers. She checked every office in the back of the gym and every bathroom and stall, including the boys' urinals. Aside from a couple rats scattering around the back, the place was empty. Not even a ball was out of place. She sighed and made her way back towards the main court and almost crapped her breakfast, lunch, and dinner from the night before. Robin was standing there with raised eyebrows, quivering lips, and cheeks so white and dullened, he literally looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"What happened, Robin?" she asked with caution. She couldn't tell if he was possessed or just plain old terrified. She was sure he was just being a big scaredy-cat like he was earlier, so she smirked and teased as she walked closer to him with her arms crossed across her chest, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Robin gulped loudly and mumbled a succinct, "It's worse than a ghost."

"Then, what is it?" Raven forced, annoyed that he was being so unclear and weird.

Robin grabbed the feisty girl by her hand and held it firmly in his. "You have to see for yourself." Raven didn't struggle when he used his grip on her to hurriedly pull her towards the locker room. She had to put a little pep in her step just so she wouldn't trip over her own feet as he forced her to follow his path.

The first thing Raven noticed about the locker room was that it was just as empty as the gym. She sighed. What could Robin possibly be so disturbed by? There was literally no one there. Then, she noticed the red and black, duffle bag that had been hanging off Speedy's shoulder that morning sitting perfectly unbothered on one of the wooden benches. The clothes he'd been wearing that morning were strewn messily across the bench and the floor. And his old, battered sneakers were sitting neatly next to each other under the bench. But where was the redhead?

"In here," Robin muttered and motioned for her to follow him into what looked like a room of showers. She hesitated, knowing that she didn't hear any running water in the background, and even though she wouldn't— _un-admittedly_ —mind, she wasn't quite prepared to see Speedy's wet, naked body in all its glory.

Unbeknownst to the naïve girl, she didn't really have a choice as the first thing she noticed when she walked into the room of showers was very different from the gym and locker room. In fact, it was once alive and was dripping blood right there onto the floor under it as she gaped in miserable shock. What she was Speedy's lifeless body hanging from the light fixture in the center of the room. His toned, athletic physique was completely bare and there was literally no sign of his infamous manhood. He'd been neutered, tortured, and stabbed in the back over and over again until he couldn't even feel the numbness of the pain anymore. A look of horror was written all over his immobile face and Raven's matched his.

"Oh Azar!" she cried out loud and ran into Robin's welcoming arms. He rubbed her back up and down as a tear rolled down his chin and onto her shoulder. "Who the hell would do such a thing and display it for us to find?!"

Robin squeezed his arms tighter around her, but she pulled away before he could continue to comfort her. He unwillingly glanced at Speedy's dried blood on the ground under his swinging body. "I don't know. Someone with true evil saturating their heart."

"We're going to die," she cried so dryly, it almost sounded sarcastic. She couldn't help the glances she kept stealing at Speedy's body. She just had to know that what she was seeing was real. She had to know she wasn't just going crazy.

Robin took a deep breath and assured her, "No, we're not going to die. We're not giving up. We're going to beat this. Okay?"

Raven tried to stop her eyes from swelling up. It was useless, but at least she was able to stop the waterworks from actually falling. "Whatever you say," she finally whispered towards the ground. This time she noticed random trashcans and basketballs thrown around the floor in random, various places. Finally, she noticed a folded, white piece of paper pinned to the wall by a bloody knife. "What's that?".

Robin's eyes followed to where her index finger was pointing and sprinted over to retrieve the note. He unfolded the bloodstained creases only for his eyes to be feasted on the same foreign language he'd read on his phone just minutes before.

'" _Ayay oolpay ustjay isnyay'tay ethay amesay asyay ethay oceanyay. Ityay ashay onay energyyay. oNay ifelay,"'_ Robin sounded out inside his brain, then said aloud, "It's Pig Latin again."

Raven sighed and rushed impatiently, "Then translate it to English."

Robin pulled his phone from his back pocket and quickly type the oddly spelled words into a Pig Latin to English translator. His face twisted when he saw the results. They were just as confusing as the one from Cyborg's murder. "It says ' _A pool just isn't the same as the ocean. It has no energy. No life'."_ He grunted then admitted, "Not really sure what that means."

Raven stared at him, a million thoughts running through her mind as she tried to figure out exactly what the clue could mean. Then, it smacked her right in her face like a hand smacking a firm butt. "Wait, didn't the note at Cyborg's crime scene say something about an arrow?" Robin was about to nod _yeah_ , when a sudden realization stomped both of them hard, making them shoot a quick glimpse at Speedy's hanging, gutted body and then back at each other. " _AQUALAD!_ "

Raven took off faster than Kid Flash on a lazy day. Good thing she had been focusing more on her leg and thigh workouts which gave her the ability to run long distances without stopping. She had no idea where the natatorium was but she sure wasn't going to waste any time looking for it. She had to get to Aqualad before the killer did or she'd never be able to live with herself. How didn't they realize what the clues meant sooner? Could there have been a warning note at Terra's scene that Wally didn't tell them about?

Robin's taller body was suddenly sprinting beside her. "I think the pool's this way!" He made a sharp turn to the right and she followed suit. They realized he was right as their feet approached another set of double doors with _Natatorium_ typed on a metal plate above them. Raven's feet never came to a halt as she used all her strength to push one of the doors open. That's when she finally stopped, because just like the gym and the locker room, the large pool-filled room appeared empty.

Robin stood next to her silently panting and intensely observing their surroundings. Despite what they were seeing, he had a biting feeling that they weren't necessarily alone. He swallowed the fear that was rising up in his throat and began walking around, inspecting every corner of the gym-like building. The atmosphere was so still and quiet, they could hear each other's nervous breathing. Raven slowly eased her way more into the room. Just like Robin, she had a stabbing feeling that something wasn't right.

"Stop. Don't come over here, Raven," Robin's almost inaudible, deep voice commanded as she was making her way over to the rope-lined pool he was standing above. " _Please_. Just stay right there."

But she didn't listen. She had to see what he saw that was making him so solemn and afraid of her seeing it. As she got closer to reaching his side, her nose was filled with strong wafts of chlorine and something… _metallic maybe?_ When she finally reached the edge of the pool, her clear, violet eyes reflected what seemed like long, black hair sprawled out and flowing gently at the top of the water in a spiral. The water was dark and deepened as if it had been mixed with something thick and red. Then, as if it knew Raven had finally arrived, the figure the hair was attached to turned over, revealing cold, dead eyes and a sliced bloody throat. _It was Aqualad._

"No!" Raven yelped and almost lunged forward into the water, but Robin's strong arms pulled her back, making them tumble to the ground. "No! Let me go! Maybe we can resuscitate him!" Raven struggled and struggled to get out of Robin's grip, but he was using all he had to keep her in his hold.

"Raven! You have to calm down," he pleaded and helped them to sit up, so that they wouldn't be rolling around on the cold, wet floor of the new murder scene. This was the exact reason he didn't want her to see what he saw. After his heart was wrenched by her bloodcurdling reaction to Speedy's death and body, he knew this one would be much more difficult on her.

"Robin," she cried out, tears were plummeting off her face onto the arms of the man that was holding onto her waist for dear life. She let out a soft, brokenhearted wail and allowed her shaking hands to find his. "Please."

Robin put his chin in the crook of her neck and softly hugged her closer to his bare chest. "It's going to be okay, Raven. We're going to get through this, and I'm going to make sure of that."

 _Klunk! Bang! Plomp!_ The sound of something hard and heavy falling to the ground rang, then immediately after a door being slammed and trudging footsteps could be heard coming closer. Raven and Robin jumped up ready to take on whoever it was, even in their crying and scared states. They were looking around every which way waiting on whatever it was to pop up. It had to be no one but the coldblooded killer who was murdering all of their friends. They had the choice of either fighting and possibly dying or they had the choice of running. As superheroes, did they have the duty of fighting the villain or did they have the right to save their own lives?

"What are we going to do?" Raven whispered loudly. Tears were still threatening her eyes, but she was trying her best to stay focused on what was happening.

Robin shook his head with indecisiveness, then looked at the makeshift bandage around her arm and the tears that were staining her terrified, beautiful face. "You're in no position to fight. Let's just get out of here before he catches us," he finally whispered back and took her uninjured hand in his before running towards the double doors they'd come through.

But soon as Robin swung the door open, he was met by a familiar face. "Jason?" he screeched as he stared into the same eyes that'd smirked at him the day before. But this time his piercing blue eyes weren't smirking. This time they were cloudy and unsure like he was nervous about something.

"Grayson," the boy breathed and took a step back from his brotherly figure, "what are you doing here?"

Robin observed the black leather jacket, red beanie, and black, biker gloves the boy was wearing. Even though Robin didn't want to admit it, he suddenly seemed very suspicious. "I could ask you the same thing," Robin finally growled through gritted teeth.

Raven impatiently folded her arms against her chest and argued, "It's obviously him, Robin! He's the reason we're here, and he's the reason all of our friends are falling off one by one. He even had the balls to cause trouble on the day of Terra's funeral."

"What—" Jason started with obvious confusion on his face.

But Raven cut him off with venom in her voice. "Let's get out of here before he slaughters us in cold blood, too."

Robin wasn't sure if he was the killer, but he definitely agreed that they needed to get out of the school and call the police as soon as possible. So, he, once again, took her hand and took off down the long hall as far away from the mysterious boy as possible.

"I'm not a murderer!" Jason's voice echoed from behind. "Just a rebel without a cause!"

 **-O-**

About an hour or so later, Raven and Robin were standing outside of the school being questioned by the police and a hundred different news reporters. They wanted nothing more than to go home, even if it was just their homes in this universe. They didn't think they could take looking at the school building and all the crime tape a second longer. Raven was all cried out since she had broken down yet again when she saw them wheeling two stretchers topped with Aqualad and Speedy's white sheet-covered, dead bodies out of the front door of the school and onto the coroner's van. Robin had no idea what to do to make her feel better and assure her that everything was alright. All he could do was hold her—when she would let him—and cry right along with her.

Suddenly, "Are you Grayson and Roth?" A deep, more assertive voice came from behind them just as they finished yet another news story interview.

' _Wait a minute. I know that…'_ Robin thought as he turned around and was met by one more face that was imperative to his life. "Bruce?"

"Yes," Bruce nodded with a befuddled look on his face. Then, he immediately returned to his serious mood. "I'm Detective Bruce Wayne, and I've been assigned to solve these mysterious cases of murders that have been plaguing you and your friends lately. Do you have any idea who could be doing this?"

Robin wanted to slap himself. His parents were still alive. _Of course_ , Bruce had no idea who he was. "No—"

"It's Jason Todd," Raven spat with fire. "We caught him trying to sneak into the natatorium and when we caught him, he had this wary expression on his face." Robin sighed at her revelation. He wanted to look more into the Jason-thing before he ratted him out to the police. They still weren't even exactly sure if he was the Red X from their world or this universe. For all they knew, Jason could just be a defiant teenager, not a ruthless villain.

Bruce took out a small, handy dandy notebook and jotted the boy's name down. "And what makes you think he could commit such horrific crimes?"

Raven scowled and told him matter-of-factly, "He's a criminal. One without remorse and inhibitions. He knocked Robin unconscious and was even evil enough to torture us on the day of our friend's funeral."

" _Ahem_ ," Robin silently cleared his throat so that only Raven heard him, "none of that happened in this universe, remember?"

Raven was thunderstruck. Darn it. It was so hard keeping up with what happened there and what happened back home. "An-and," she stuttered, trying to think of something true to add, "and why else would he be here? He's not a basketball player. He doesn't swim laps here every Saturday morning. And he didn't have detention."

"Great point," Bruce stated and finished off his notes on the paper. "It's not enough to arrest him or get a warrant, but if he's still around we'll definitely question him."

Out of nowhere, "Whoa," Robin flinched as a black microphone was shoved in his face.

"Richard, Raven, can you tell the world just what happened in there?" A voluminous, black-haired, blue-eyed, cherry lipped woman mouthed into her microphone right before shoving it back into the boy's face.

Bruce used his height to shield them and glanced back at the woman. "No more interviews. Haven't these kids already been through enough today?"

"Just one interview!" she shouted as Bruce lead them away from her and all of the other snapping cameras and random passersby. She jogged after them through the grass as they hurriedly walked towards Robin's vehicle that was parked in the vacant student parking lot. Her camera man was loitering behind sluggishly with the heavy camera on his shoulder.

"Keep up, Clark!" she shouted back at him and quickened her pace until she reached the two teens and older gentleman.

Bruce breathed out hastily and scowled at the stubborn woman. "God, Diana, do you have any decency? I said no interviews. They just discovered their friends' dead bodies for Pete's sake. We need to be focused on trying to stop the madman who put them there."

Diana huffed and puffed. Then, said calmly as if she was trying to lure him in, "I just wanted one interview. We're the CNN of Jump City. It'd be murder to our careers if we didn't cover this story."

Robin and Raven both winced at her choice of words, and Bruce decided to call her out on it. "Seriously, Di? _Murder_ to your careers? Anything for a good story, I suppose?"

"Come on, Bruce," the lady spoke teasingly, "you can't still be mad that I turned down your offer for a second date?"

The older man bowed his head in embarrassment, but only let it get him down for a second. "This isn't about us, Diana. This is about stopping the murders and saving our young people." Then, he paused as if he was thinking about giving in. "If you want an interview, I will be doing a press conference about the whole ordeal in about five. Now, let us be, so I can send them home."

Diana motioned for her silent but present cameraman to come closer before turning back to the other three with a soft yet manipulating smile. "Okay, just one last thing." They all nodded in unison. "Is it true that JCH is turning into a modern day Slaughter High?"

 **-O-**

 **A/N: Ok, I decided to make this one shorter lol. Hopefully, it's still cool. Oh, and I said 3-day timeline in the last chapter, but I meant 4. Can't forget about the actual Halloween day. Sorry if the story is moving kind of fast, but I was kind of going for that sort of tone. Thanks to everyone reading...xoxo**

 _ **:**_ **Well, in a sense, he** _ **was**_ **next lol. And I just wanted to have at least a little fun with Speedy's scene haha. Raven and Robin are in the worst position, but they have to stay strong and push through ig. As usual, thanks for the review :-)**

 _ **runner:**_ **I should figure out a way to include Slade more instead of giving him a little cameo. & um…sorry lol? About Aqualad, that is. I killed him off before seeing your review :( Thanks for reading!**

 _ **argent82:**_ **I guess their relationship really is broken off now haha. And I love how you still remember stuff from KFaV. That's awesome :) Thanks for reviewing!**

 _ **Zwaggerine:**_ **Hey, I don't mind long reviews at all. I'm seriously flattered by everything you said and did. Ik how annoying those data charges can be lol, so thank you very much. Maybe I shouldn't have started them off already having those feelings but oh well now ig. I hate killing the characters but I have to haha. Anyway, don't do anything too crazy and thanks for reading and taking those extra charges :):)**


	7. Serendipity

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans :)**

 **7\. Serendipity**

 **-O-**

"That bitch," Jinx's voice shouted in Raven's ear as she paraded around her dark room with her cellphone posted against her ear. She wasn't much of a phone person or a _talking_ person for that matter, but she really needed someone to talk to right now. She had already given Robin enough hell that day. Plus, he needed some time to himself to relax and try his best to forget everything they'd witnessed that morning. Yet, truth be told, she missed his safe and guarding touch.

At this point, it was around seven at night. The sun was just setting, allowing bright, white moonlight to seep through her semi-closed curtains, and the wind could be heard whistling on the other side of the window. She, unfortunately, was alone in the large mini mansion since her dad had gone on some kind of wicked business trip and she had sent all of their hardworking servants home. She actually regretted sending all of them away now. Company would be ideal at this point. Which was why she'd called Jinx, who was currently going off about the news reporter that had harassed her, Robin, and Bruce that afternoon.

The lady's name was Diana Prince, better known as, Wonder Woman in the superhero universe. Her otherworld counterpart was apparently a snobby bitch and the top leading newscaster in all of Jump City, which was definitely the opposite of how Raven knew her. But if there was one thing about the-this world Diana that she had in common with Wonder Woman, it was her unending ambition and independence. And that was always something Raven could admire.

"I mean, who does she think she is?!" Jinx's voice came again. She was beyond fed up with the words coming out of the woman's mouth on the T.V.

Raven sat on her bed and turned up the volume on her television. Diana was sitting at a desk reporting on the murders and showing frequent clips from Bruce's press conference that backed up her points. Bruce had declared a citywide curfew, which only made most kids rebel and throw parties just because they were told not to. But Raven, Jinx, and Robin had all smartly stayed in the comfort of their own homes.

Raven tuned out her thoughts and tuned into what Diana was yapping away about on her screen. "One of the teens murdered today was the known rival of one of the witnesses and the other was the ex-boyfriend of the other witness. Who's to say they aren't the suspects we're looking for? Who's to say they aren't coldblooded murderers?" Raven gasped at her bold accusation and reached for the remote to shut the T.V. off. Why did everyone think they should be the prime suspects? Even their own friend had accused them.

"See what I mean. The nerve," Jinx grunted. Then, softened up when she realized the seriousness of this all. Her best friend's boyfriend and a couple of her other friends were _dead_. It had to be harder than she could fathom. "Raven, I'm so sorry this all happened to you. I can't imagine how you feel right now. But I'm going to be right here by your side the whole time helping you get through it all."

"Thanks, Jinx," Raven started gently, rubbing her arms to warm herself in the cold room. "That means a lot."

"I think you should still do the show tomorrow. In Aqualad's honor since he was so excited for it. And maybe it'll take your mind off everything."

Raven lifted a confused eyebrow. "What show?"

"You know, the annual sing-off down at the café. You've been wanting to do it for so long and you finally found the courage to do it this year. I think Aqualad would be really proud of you if you stuck through with it."

Raven almost swallowed her dry tongue. Not many people back home knew of her hidden talent, but here it seemed to be common knowledge. She wasn't Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey, but she figured she could at least give Beyoncé or Adele a run for their money. But even if it was common knowledge, there was no way she could go through with it. She hadn't sung in forever and plus there was just no way she'd ever sing in front of other people.

"No way," she replied after contemplating. "I can't sing in front of a crowd."

"What? Raven, you do it all the time. We've been planning this forever," Jinx debated. "You'll be fine."

Raven let out a long sigh as she realized she had to do it. The Raven from this world seemed as if she was much bolder and much more courageous with her actions than her. She wasn't a quiet, antisocial loner and actually had the nerve to get up and sing in front of someone other than her reflection, so Raven was going to have to find it, too.

"Okay," Raven finally gave in, causing Jinx to squeal on the other line. "What song was I singing again?"

"I don't know. You told us it was a surprise."

Raven rolled her eyes at her counterpart's attempt at being mysterious and told Jinx, "Oh yeah. Well, I'm going to go practice in the shower and hit the hay. I'll text you in the morning."

"Okay. Try not to touch yourself while you're in there."

Raven dry chuckled and hung up the phone on her new friend. She had to admit it felt good to have another girl she could tell all her secrets and feelings. Sure, she had Starfire back at the tower but she wasn't exactly the type of person Raven could connect with. Raven had to admit, she did try her best though.

The alone girl tossed her phone on the bed and reached for a soft, white towel and her blue, satin robe then made her way to the shower. The house was so still and silent, it really unsettled her and put her on the edge of chickening out. She told herself the eeriness of the place was all in her head and started the hot, steamy water of the shower. She slowly eased out of her clinging, sweaty clothes and long boots and turned to admire herself in the full-length mirror.

' _What did Aqualad see in me?'_ she thought, immediately dampening her own mood. She hated the fact that her skin was so dull and gray and her hair was vibrant yet limp. Even worse in her mind, her eyes were colored so oddly they made every stranger that noticed them stare. Worst of all, she was short and petite which in turn caused her body to be thick and stumpy. She wished she had Starfire's long legs and slenderness, but they were both something her body would never let her achieve.

She continued to stare at her trembling lips and hollow eyes until to the steam of the hot shower fogged the mirror. She gradually eased her foot into the scorching water and instantly drew it back when the droplets burned her skin. She quickly turned the cold water up and submerged her body and soul under the waves of the showerhead. The day had been so long and tiresome, she couldn't help but feel vulnerable. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the images of Speedy's hanging body and Aqualad's floating one out her brain. Their scared and empty faces were all she could see.

The only good thing about today was how many times Robin had held her in his arms. The last time he'd held her so close to him was when he had caught her falling body after Slade had pushed her to her death. After breaking her fall, he lifted her up and carried her all the way back to the tower without any complaints and without ever loosening his grip. His grip that made her feel so safe and so hopeful like she could do anything she put her mind to if he was right there beside her. His grip that almost made her feel…loved or at least something like it. She knew without a doubt that their bond and friendship were two things that were unbreakable.

With those thoughts now on her mind, many song ideas came rushing inside her head. But there was one whose lyrics stood out to her the most, and they were the perfect words to get him to acknowledge that maybe _just maybe_ she thought of him as more than a friend.

 _Clank!_ A sound shot off in the distant. Raven's closed eyes popped open under the harsh water, making her usually clear eyes turn bloodshot red. She continued brushing her soapy loofah over her wet body, but now she was definitely more on edge and aware of her surroundings.

 _CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!_ The sound came again but this time louder and more frequently. Her breathing suddenly became heavy and frantic as she twisted the shower knob, so that she could listen more intently. What were those noises? There was no one else there or anyone that was supposed to be coming, so she thought.

She felt fed up tears wailing up in her eyes as she slowly moved the solid black, shower curtain with caution. She had to be sure there was nothing that would make her heart stop standing on the other side of it. Thankfully, the bathroom was empty, even though her reflection in the mirror almost made her cry out in fright. She clamped her hand over her trembling mouth as she began to hear the soft stomps of shoes moving around upstairs. She resisted the urge to cry out yet again and gradually made her way over to the royal blue robe that was hanging on the door. She quickly but silently slipped it on, not caring that her body was still soaking wet, and tied the strings tight around her waist. She looked around the lavatory for anything remotely close to a weapon and ended up settling on a wrench that was twisted tightly around the pipe behind the toilet. She gripped the wrench hard in her palm and braced herself for whatever she was getting ready to face outside that room. She sucked up her fear and put on a face of bravery before stepping out into the light.

But what she saw was something that was much more frightening than her demonic father or a greedy burglar with a gun to her head. At the end of the long hall was a figure dressed in an ankle-length, all-black robe, black no-slip boots, black, leather gloves, and a stark white mask that had the face of an unnerving ghostly entity. In the fist of this uninvited person was a butcher's knife as sharp as cheddar that had a blade so spotless, it was reflecting the light above them like a prism.

For some reason, seeing the figure standing there in complete, unmoving silence made the blood in her throbbing veins curl more and her heart thump rapidly against her rib cage. She had no idea when it would make a move or even what its move would be. And to her, that was much more deadly.

She closed her eyes for three seconds to silently ask Azar to give her the courage and strength to fight this evil being without her powers. But when she opened her eyes, the figure was running towards her full force with the knife high in the air, ready to slice her wet skin. She panicked and flung the silver, rusting wrench right at its head, causing the person to stumble back and onto the carpeted floor of the hall. Raven used the fall to her advantage and took off down the hall towards her room to grab her cell phone. She hurriedly typed in the long passcode she had placed for security reasons and looked for Robin's name in the contacts, but before she could press _call_ , her hair was being yanked from the back in every direction.

The killer held the sharp, glistening knife to her gulping throat while still pulling her head back by her long hair. "Please," she whined as tears ran down her pale face, "you don't have to do this."

For some strange reason, the killer's grip on her hair loosened, so she used this mistake to make her move. She forced her petite body away from its taller one and spun around to whack it with her fist in what she assumed was its jaw. Whoever it was grunted in anger, straightened its neck, and lunged towards her. She gasped and took off running again with her phone surprisingly still in her hand and the killer not far behind. At this point, she really wished she could multitask and call Robin while simultaneously running for her life. But she probably would've fallen to her death if she tried.

As she approached the top of the stair case, she purposely reduced her speed so that the killer would be even closer to her. When her foot was about to touch the first step, she impulsively jumped to the side with her leg out, tripping the killer. And down the figure went. Its body was slamming and rolling down the steps so hard and fast, Raven was certain it was either dead or at least had numerous broken bones. Believing herself to be lucky, she used that chance to call Robin.

"Robin!" she screamed the moment the phone stopped ringing, not even giving him a chance to say hello.

"Raven, are you okay?" He was already in leader mode from the sound of her panicky voice.

"No, the killer's here! I just tripped him down the stairs! I think he's dead," she rushed, almost out of breath.

"Are you sure?" Was his next question, which actually caught her off guard. She hadn't thought to be sure that it was dead or hurt. Now, she was almost scared to check. And scared she should've been. When she looked back to the edge of the staircase, all she saw was vacuumed carpet and an indent where the stranger's body once lay.

"Shit! He's gone," she hissed and turned to look behind her. There was no way he could get up the stairs without her realizing? Right? _Right?!_

"Raven, hold tight! I'm coming over right now!" Robin's worried voice caused her to jump in her skin.

" _NO!_ " she begged. "Robin, please don't. Call the police, but don't come over here! I don't want anything to happen to you!"

On the other side of the street, Robin was already heading her way. The moment she called him screaming like she was in danger, he hopped out of bed and out of his sorrow from what they'd witnessed that day and slipped into his jeans from earlier. Then, he rushed out the door without shoes or a jacket and with the hot phone still in his hand. There was no way he was going to let anything happen to her. He didn't need the police. He could protect her all on his own.

Then, after a strange silence, he heard her breathing become shallow then erratic then shallow again as if she was being strangled. Right afterwards, he heard a wail and what sounded to be a struggle between her and another person. He could hear all kinds of grunting, smacks, slaps, and punches being made. Whoever this person was, was definitely going to be in for it when he got there.

"Raven!" Robin screamed into the receiver; his legs didn't seem to be getting him there fast enough. "Raven, answer me! Are you okay?"

"Robin," her voice was weak and wheezy, almost as if she was barely breathing, "I think he's gone again. He was raising the knife up to stab me, then you called my name and he just ran away."

"Are you—Ugh!" Robin grunted as he ran smack dab into another person. His phone was now smashed to pieces on the ground. He was about to curse whoever the person was when he looked up and saw a familiar red bed of hair.

"Robin, what's up?" It was Kid Flash. He had obviously been running, too, as evident by his panting and the sweat beads trickling down his forehead. He was wearing a thick, black sweater and warm, black, track pants. His jaw looked to be bruised and his skin was red as if he had just gotten into a fight or an embarrassing situation.

"Wally," Robin uttered dumbstruck. "What are you doing over here?"

Kid Flash tried his best to calm his breathing before hunching a shoulder. "I always go for a nightly run through the neighborhood. I'm not much of a morning person, so I can't do the morning run-thing everyone else does."

Robin eyed him suspiciously and inspected everything about him from his limp, stringy, red hair to his happy, blue eyes to his playful smirk. "Oh…yeah."

"Going to visit Raven, I see? I guess you're taking advantage of the whole Aqualad-dying-thing," the boy teased and crossed his arms over his heaving chest. Then, his smirk fell as he realized what he'd said. "Eh…that was kind of inappropriate. Forget I said that."

"I'll be sure to," Robin forced and tried to walk away, but KF's hard palm on his chest stopped him.

"Kind of crazy how they died, huh?" he asked with an unsteady almost nervous voice and shook his head at the ground. "Kind of makes you wonder if we're next."

Robin growled to himself and spat, "We're not next. Nobody's next." And with that, he shoved the redhead out his way and jogged to Raven's place. Fortunately, _or unfortunately_ , the front door was already ajar, so he welcomed himself in. He looked around the destroyed foyer and living room area as he made his way in. Plants and vases were broken and strewn everywhere. The once mounted television was laying shattered on the ground and the furniture had been moved out of place. The entire area looked as if a whirlwind had come through and torn it apart.

" _ARGH!_ " A red and feisty Raven suddenly came rushing towards him with a heavy, black hammer in her hands, but she halted as soon as she realized it was Robin and not the killer. "Robin!"

Robin would say the quick transformation from bad ass fighter to damsel in distress the fragile girl made was nothing short of amazing. "Raven," he whispered and pulled her into a relieved hug. "You're alright. What happened? Did he hurt you?"

"He choked me and tried to stab me, but I'm okay," she assured him, her normally raspy voice a little hoarse and feeble. She pulled away from the boy and massaged her neck where the killer had tightened its hands. Its fingerprints were already leaving blue and purple bruises around the long, slender part of her body.

"Raven," Robin started and watched as she winced in pain, "are you sure you're okay? Do you want to go to the hospital? I can still call the cops if you want."

"No," Raven forced, closing her wet eyes in the process. "I'm fine. I just want to forget this happened and get the hell out of this place."

"I think the key to figuring out how to get out of here is figuring out who the killer is," he replied, making Raven sigh. She knew it was the truth but she didn't want to hear or believe it. Despite all she'd been through and survived in her life, she was terrified of facing the person who was murdering all of their friends and the person who'd almost succeeded in executing her. She just felt so helpless and weak, and that wasn't her at all.

"Okay, but can we do it tomorrow?" she questioned like a pleading child. "I just want to rest and forget right now."

Robin exhaled and examined the begging eyes of the girl in front of him. He'd never seen her so frail and exhausted. It was definitely a sore sight for his eyes to see. "Of course, Rae. It's been a long day," he said after a minute, then turned his leader voice back on, "But I'm going to circle around the block. Make sure I don't see anything _or_ _anyone_ suspicious."

"No," she choked out and fell to her knees. She posted herself up on her forearms and just let the depression and anxiety that was creeping up take over her. "No…"

"Raven," Robin immediately ran to her side. He kneeled on one knee and took her chin in his fingers. "What's wrong?"

Raven refused to look into the dark glasses that were covering his eyes and instead focused her violet orbs on the tan carpet their knees were pressed into. "D-don't leave me," she stuttered, her voice still rough yet quiet. "I can't take being alone anymore. I was alone back home. I'm alone here. I can't take it anymore, Robin."

"Raven," he rushed without thinking about what he should say, "you're never alone as long as I'm here. I'm always a call away if you need me."

"What I'm dealing with isn't some villain you can just fight, Robin," she spat angrily and forced her chin out of his grip. "I'm not Starfire. You can't just buy me a rose and take me shopping to make me feel better. Because when I go home, my heart still feels cold and empty and I still feel lost and confused about my place in this world. Or in our world…or in any world…"

Robin blinked in shock. He had no idea that these were the type of thoughts running through her head each night and day. Now he understood her diminished mood around the tower lately. "Raven, I have to admit, I don't know the right thing to say. I could possibly be saying the wrong thing right now as I speak," he paused and swallowed a huge gulp of spit. "But I want to help you get rid of that coldness and emptiness in your heart. I can help you find your place in any world. I don't know how, but if you know me, I won't give up until we succeed in making you happy. Because what are best friends for?"

Raven laughed a mute chuckle and watched him out the corner of her eye. "I admire the hope and confidence that you always seem to have in me. I don't really know where I'd be without it…" she drifted and then finally turned to look at him with her usual blank but warm face. "Thank you, Robin."

"My pleasure," he whispered with a minute smile. "I'm going to get you out of here and back home as soon as possible. And no matter what the truth is when we get back, I'm going to stick by your side."

Raven nodded quietly and struggled to stand up in her place. "Sounds like a plan. Now can I sleep?"

Robin chuckled at her nonchalant ways and said, "Sure."

- **O-**

"You can look now," Raven's dry voice uttered moments later. Robin had been covering his eyes like a good boy while she changed out of her wet robe and bare skin into a dry, black, satin robe, camisole, and shorts set. She pulled her damp, black hair into a ponytail and crawled on top of her navy blue bed.

Robin opened his eyes to see her lying there with her shoulders tense and her own eyes closed in thought. Nothing was showing, but he didn't think he'd ever seen her so nude. She had gotten completely undressed in front of him even with her clothes still on. He couldn't believe she was lying there with her thoughts and emotions totally exposed and visible for him to see. Even more shocking, she wanted him to stay there with her.

"I'll just sleep in this arm chair," he finally spoke up, causing her to open her sleepy eyes.

"Actually," she blushed and blinked down at the black, fringy blankets covering her feet, "do you mind sleeping up here with me? Nothing erotic…I just want to feel safe…"

Robin blinked and shook his head side to side to make sure he wasn't hearing things. "Wait what?"

"Never mind," she rushed and pulled the covers over her shoulder as she turned on her side, "that was taking it too far. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no," he said with haste, "I don't mind. I'll do all it takes to make you feel safe."

This time Raven was speechless. She didn't know if she should thank him or not. She was still pretty shocked that he agreed. After his break up with Star, he had given them all this long lecture about not mixing business with pleasure. He said they all should be teammates and friends, but nothing more because it interfered too much with their job and responsibilities as superheroes. They all assumed he was just being a pissy brat because the beautiful girl had dumped him, but he had never taken it back.

Still in her anxious, fearful mode, Raven jumped when his body caused the bed to sink in and his thin t-shirt covered chest was suddenly pressed against the curve of her back. Before she could retort, his arm had slowly made his way around her small waist. Her eyes grew wide. All she asked was that he sleep in the bed with her. Not once did she say he had to hold her.

"I-is this o-okay?" he whispered gently into her luscious hair. All she could do was nod in content and close her weary eyes.

But instead of falling into a deep sleep, she fell into a flashback.

 _Raven didn't know what had just occured. All she remembered was fighting and tussling with Slade. Now, she was midair next to a skyscraper, plummeting to her premature death._ _Suddenly, a swinging figure on a rope swooped her up in his strong arms and landed softly on the ground with her still in his hold._

 _She gradually opened her eyes only to be faced with a smiling Robin. She knew right then; he was more than her knight in shining armor. She had given up on her life, but he always gave his all to save it. "Let's go home," he breathed over her and swooped her drained body up once more._

 _As he took that long stroll to the tower with her weighty, solid body in his arms, he never complained, sighed, or struggled to keep her up. When they finally made it to her room, he gently placed her in the center of her round bed and tucked her under the thick, heavy covers. At that point, it had been thirty minutes since they'd been silent, but yet Raven had heard so much. She heard just how much he cared about her wellbeing and just how much he needed her in his life. She could hear the strength of the bond between them and how no one else could understand the other quite like they could. She heard how much they actually enjoyed each other's quiet presence and how much they had longed to get to know one another better. She heard just how much they not only connected on a mental level, but also on a deeper, darker emotional level. Even more so than emotional was physical. When he picked her up and held her near to his heart, the feeling she experienced could not be explained. The sensation his touch gave her was so unattainable, she didn't think there was a feeling in the world that could surpass it except the feelings she had for him._

 _It was then she realized that they truly were best friends. Ever since that day she'd gone inside his mind, he claimed it since she from then on knew everything about him. Yet he didn't know a thing about her. How could someone who knew nothing about you be your best friend? However, now she was beginning to understand. Now, she felt exactly what he felt. Even without knowing someone's past or future, you can feel how much you connect with them. You can feel when your souls unite and meld as one. It was an immaculate feeling. And in the end, she was just thankful she had ventured inside Robin's mind and not Beast Boy's._

" _Robin," she grabbed his wrist before he could walk away, "you don't have to leave just yet…"_

 _The boy was quiet for a minute, probably contemplating whether or not staying was a good idea. Then, finally, he expressed, "I'll stay as long as you want, Raven. I promise."_

Raven was suddenly pulled back into reality by the tightening of his arm around her body. That night he'd fallen asleep in her room. But instead of sleeping in the bed, he made his own pallet on the floor. She never would've imagined that just a year later he would be spending the night with her again but this time in the bed right along with her.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow? Other than working on solving this whole ordeal?" she asked as she remembered the performance she'd promised Jinx she'd do.

"Um, not that I know of," he uttered. "What's up?"

Raven took a deep breath of courage and said, "I have a performance at the café tomorrow that Jinx insists I do. I was wondering if you would like to come."

"Of course," he said almost instantly. "I didn't know you had any talents. What kind of performance?

Raven only smirked to herself as she placed her hand over his. "It's a surprise, Boy Blunder. You'll just have to wait and see."

 **-O-**

 **A/N: I'm kind of in a hurry, so I don't have time to talk a lot tonight lol But thanks for reading xoxo :)**

 _ **: First off, love the name change lol. Yeah, Clark was the only name I could think of at the time lol and I figured he doesn't always have to play a big role in stuff related to them. Also, yeah I don't plan on "showing" every death, because too much gore can be depressing and boring haha. Guess you'll just have to see who's going down next and what Red X is up to :) Thanks for the review!**_

 _ **runner: Yeah, that's one thing I keep bothering myself about. Why aren't they trying to figure out how they got there lol? I just like to think that too much is going on right now and they don't exactly know where to start. Anyway, thanks for the review :)**_


	8. The Uninvited

**8\. The Uninvited**

 **Sorry in advance for the length…didn't realize it was so long until I was getting ready to upload it haha**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans, the song, the movie, or whatever else.**

 **-O-**

"The show is in a couple hours. I will personally do the killer's job and strangle you myself if you're not there," Raven's voice threatened Robin late the next day.

It was almost four in the afternoon and he was just waking up. The night before, his heart had been beating so wildly and hard against his chest as he lay next to the dreaming girl, he couldn't bring himself to fall asleep. He wanted to be awake for every bit of the moment since he knew it'd probably never happen again, especially when they returned home. Speaking of, thoughts of returning home had also kept him awake that night. He kept telling her they would be alright and that he would get them out of there. Truth was, he had no idea how to do just that. The killer had almost gotten to her, and who's to say he wouldn't get to him. Sure he was used to being powerless, but clearly this killer had some kind of advantage over them. And that advantage was definitely the fear he was able to invoke.

Robin groggily looked down at his broken phone; he had to talk with it on speaker due to the fact that the screen was almost completely shattered and actually cut his ear if he held it up to it. "You know I'll be there, Rae."

"See you then," she said in her usual tone and hung up the phone.

Robin yawned and rolled around lazily in his bed. He had no idea when was the last he had slept so long. He suddenly felt like a different person…almost like Beast Boy or Kid Flash.

 _Beep, beep_ , his phone vibrated, causing him to raise up with alert eyes. He once again looked down at the screen only to see Starfire's name.

' _Can't wait for our date tonight. I am most excited to see where you will take me this time! :-)'_ was what she'd texted. Robin let out a disbelieving sigh before forcing his pillow over his head and screaming his lungs into it. Where was his luck? As soon as he promises Raven he'll come to her performance, Starfire texts him reminding him of some date they already had planned. Ugh, things just weren't getting any better.

 **-O-**

"Did you bring the print outs of the chords?" Jinx questioned Raven later that night as she tested the strings on her acoustic guitar, making sure they still sounded in tune. According to her, her, Raven, and Argent had formed a girl group a little over a year ago with Raven on the lead vocals, Jinx on the different types of guitars, and Argent playing either keyboard or drums depending on the song. Apparently, they had never performed in front of anyone besides the Roths' maid, Robin, and Aqualad. But of course, the current Robin didn't even know the girl could sing.

Raven nodded up and down as she tried her best to relax her nerves. She was beginning to wonder why she even agreed to do this. What did her other-dimension counterpart have in her life that gave her the courage that she herself lacked? She didn't know, but maybe she'd find out tonight. Plus, she had to admit, a part of her was excited to face her fears and social awkwardness. Maybe this was step one in learning how to be happy and carefree.

"Really, Raven?" Argent laughed as she read the name of the song the bird had chosen. "This is the kick-ass song you've been hiding from us for so long?"

Raven hunched a shoulder before putting her hand on her forehead with doubt. "Oh, Azar, what am I doing? I can't sing in front of all those people out there."

"Listen to me, Raven," Jinx said in a bossy, motherly tone. "You can do it, and you will do it. Okay? I'm not going to let you chicken out and ruin this for yourself. You've been wanting to do this for so long."

"She's right," Argent voiced quietly. "Aqualad loved to hear you sing. I'm sure he'd be proud of you as well."

Raven sighed at the thought of Aqualad. Even if she didn't want to do it for herself, she had to do it in his honor. If he loved to hear her sing, she would sing. But he wouldn't be the one on her mind as she sang the words.

In fact, the one who'd she be thinking of was making his way into the public area of the café with another girl by his side. They had both gotten all spruced up just to be there. He was sporting a white button-up, a red bow tie, dark denim, and his favorite Chuck Taylors. He'd given up his spiky hair for a gelled down pompadour and his anxious blue eyes were hidden behind a pair of jet black sunglasses. His date was wearing a cropped, white sweater, a flowy, black skater skirt, glittery, black fishnets, and purple, ankle booties. Her hair was long and curly and her makeup was faint—aside from the flawless foundation—and only accentuating her beauty. When they reached a table right in the center of the room, the fellow pulled out a chair for the lady and hesitantly took a seat next to her.

"The place you have chosen is most beautiful, Robin," the girl blushed and played with her fingers under the table.

"Thanks, Star," he replied with a small smile. He hated reliving this moment with her, but it wasn't her fault. "I heard tonight was going to be a special one, and I thought maybe you'd want to check it out."

"You thought correctly," she giggled a girlish laugh and continued to admire her surroundings with her innocent, emerald green eyes. "A little birdy told me they have great mustard."

Robin let out a heartfelt laugh. It was inevitable that she still loved mustard despite being more normalized here. "Probably so," he uttered as he finished his laugh. "Who was the little birdy?"

Starfire sat and racked her brain for the memory. Finally, "I believe it was Beast Boy. He and Terra once went on a date here, and he told us all about it."

"I bet that was an interesting conversation," Robin mumbled to himself and turned his attention to the stage as the announcer made her way onto it.

"Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to the Teapot's Annual Sing-Off," the older, brunette-haired lady roared into the microphone. "Tonight we will be judging six contestants based on their vocals, their overall sound, and the effort they took to make whatever song they're singing their own. Are you ready for the show?!"

" _Yeeeeahhh!_ _Whoo! Woo-hoo!_ " the large crowd, including Starfire, cheered and clapped in response. Robin was rendered speechless as he pressed his spine against the back of his chair. _Sing-off?_ Did that mean Raven was about to sing? Or was she just playing an instrument? He didn't know and he was forced to anxiously sit through five, long, and boring performances for the answer. Thankfully, Starfire had seemed to enjoy them all and had even pulled him up to dance with the crowd a couple of times. Yet, all he could think about was Raven.

"Give it up for the Counting Vultures one last time!" the announcer screamed into the mic as the crowd rumbled with cheers. "Okay. This last group is comprised of three of my favorite, regular customers here at The Teapot. So, show some love to Salem's Child!"

Backstage, Raven almost gagged at their name. _Salem's Child?_ Was that supposed to imply that they were witches? How ignorant…not to mention she wasn't a witch. She was half demon. There was a difference.

"Come on, Rae. It's show time," Jinx whispered to her before walking out on stage with her baby pink guitar by her side.

Raven watched from the side of the stage as Argent followed next and took her seat at the black keyboard. _'This is it,'_ she thought before closing her eyes and inhaling a deep breath. She slowly let it out and told herself she could do this. With that reassurance, she clanked her short, black, high heeled, ankle boots onto the platform.

Robin sat stunned as Raven made her way onto the stage and over towards the microphone in a cropped, royal blue turtleneck and black, high-waisted jeans. Her long, dark hair was in a low ponytail and parted to the side so that a swooped bang hovered over one eye and was tucked behind her ear. Her flawless skin and almost ethereal beauty stood out boldly in the bright light that was shining directly on her face. Her long, black eyelashes were curled and darkened to perfection and her full lips were painted with a cool-toned purple lipstick. For some reason, her eyelids were closed as if she didn't want to face what was ahead of her. Robin silently wondered if she'd already seen him with Starfire and was now holding back her anger. He hated showing up with the girl after the heartfelt night him and Raven had shared the night before, but having their date at the café was the only way he could satisfy both of them.

With her eyes still closed, she spoke softly into the microphone, "I would like to dedicate this song to a very hopeful, very courageous, and…very special guy in my life. I hope you enjoy."

Robin squinted as Jinx and Argent began playing the first few notes of the song. Was she talking about him? _Nah_ , couldn't be. Right?

"Eek!" Starfire squealed lowly with her hands clasped excitedly in front of her face. "Friend Raven looks most gorgeous, does she not?"

"Yeah," Robin forced after a few seconds of wondering what to say. He decided on the truth. "Yeah, she does."

Then, finally, she began to sing and coo random, soft hums into the mic. The sounds she made were angelic and literally bliss to his ears. In fact, he'd never heard a voice so beautiful, especially coming from someone who spoke with such rasp and bluntness.

 _ **(Cascada- Everytime We Touch (Yanou's Candlelight Mix aka the Slow Version))**_

" _I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me_

 _I still feel your touch in my dreams_

 _Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why_

 _Without you it's hard to survive_

' _Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling_

 _And every time we kiss I swear I could fly_

 _Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last_

 _Need you by my side_

' _Cause every time we touch, I feel the static_

 _And every time we kiss I reach for the sky_

 _Can't you hear my heart beat so I can't let you go_

 _Want you in my life_

 _Your arms are my castle, your heart is my sky_

 _They wipe away tears that I cry_

 _The good and the bad times we've been through them all_

 _You make me rise when I fall_

' _Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling_

 _And every time we kiss I swear I could fly_

 _Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last_

 _Need you by my side_

' _Cause every time we touch, I feel the static_

 _And every time we kiss I reach for the sky_

 _Can't you feel my heart beat so I can't let you go_

 _Want you in my life…_ "

"Whoo! Yeah! Encore!" the crowd cheered as she softly finished her powerful rendition of Cascada's infamous song. She had blown them away with her soft yet strong vocals and they'd thoroughly enjoyed her version of the song much more than the classic.

Raven's eyelids slowly pried themselves apart as she took in the crowd's unending roars and claps for her and her group. But the moment she opened them, she wished she hadn't. Standing right in the center of the room was a blatantly pleased Robin giving her a deserving standing ovation. However, right on the other side of his table was a laughing and grinning Starfire who was also standing and giving her the claps she deserved.

Raven's eyes somehow met Robin's through the thick lenses he was using to hide his identity. Yet, she knew exactly who he was. But what she didn't know was how he felt. About her, Starfire, or anyone else for that matter. All she knew was she suddenly felt like the biggest fool on this side of the sun.

"Thank you," she mumbled into the mic before sprinting across the stage in her heels and out the back door of the teashop.

Robin's applause ceased as his eyes followed her running body. The look she'd given him definitely told him how hurt she was from seeing him with Starfire, and he hated nothing more than hurting her. She'd already been through too much pain in her life and just in these last few days. He didn't want to add to it. But he didn't know if he should run after her or not. He had no idea she felt so strongly about him. He figured she'd be upset, but he never imagined she'd be pained. Did the words of that song really mean what he thought? Did she feel for him as more than a friend?

"Robin?" Starfire called softly, reminding him of exactly where he was. Her bubbly voice no longer sounded soft and airy, but was now throatier and toneless as if her mood had dropped.

"Yes, Star," he choked on his rapidly beating heart.

Starfire's head fell towards her lap as she once again began toying with her fingers and using her nails to dig under the others. "Do you think of Friend Raven as more than a friend?"

Robin raised a confused eyebrow. How did she get that out of that quick look him and the other girl had shared? "No! Why would you say such a thing?"

"Well," the girl spoke almost inaudibly, "you look at her with eyes of smoldering desire, eyes of burning passion…eyes of indescribable love. And you don't look at me the same."

Robin swallowed a huge ball of nerves. Were all of those things true? "How can you even see my eyes, Star?"

Starfire frowned gravely and reminded, "You only just began wearing sunglasses every day, but even still I can see behind your lens when I am sitting beside you. How you feel about Friend Raven is, as they say, written all over your face."

Meanwhile, outside Jinx was just catching up to Raven as she sat on an old crate in the dark alley between the café and the building beside it. "Raven, what's wrong? Didn't you hear how much the crowd loved our performance? Why didn't you bask in the moment?"

Raven sighed and pushed her chin into her palm. "I couldn't stand being in there a second longer."

"Why not?" Jinx asked, her irritation evident. "That was amazing, Rae. They literally wanted an encore."

"I couldn't take watching Robin with Starfire, okay?" Raven bellowed, fed up with the girl's pushing. "I asked him to come for me, and he brings her. He's the one I dedicated the song to."

Jinx's annoyed face fell and her eyes grew bold. "Wow, really? I thought you were talking about Aqualad."

Raven shook her head slowly and stared at the ground with dry eyes. She wanted to cry, but she never could bring herself to unless she was in dire circumstances. And this unfortunately wasn't a life or death situation. "No, I mean…I lo…ved Aqualad," she lied in order to make herself not seem like a completely spineless bitch, "but I think Robin has always had my heart."

"Oh, Raven," Jinx breathed and wrapped a sisterly arm around the girl's shoulder. "I understand exactly how you feel. Before his untimely death and even kind of still, I had the biggest crush on Cyborg. I never told you guys because I thought you would laugh at the idea of a wicked, dark girl like me having a puppy dog crush on such a popular, nice guy. Not to mention, he had Bumblebee, and I just felt like I couldn't compete."

"Jinx," was all Raven could whisper in response. She remembered Cyborg confiding in her about his secret times with Jinx before he met Bumblebee and she couldn't help but wonder if the pink-haired villain turned hero still longed to be with him.

"But I'm okay," Jinx smiled, then smirked. "There's plenty of straight, penis-having males out there for you to fall in love with. The person you're meant to be with will find their way to you in due time. You just have to be patient."

Raven rolled her eyes before throwing her head back in annoyance. "Tell that to my heart."

"Raven!" Robin suddenly rushed out the back door of building. "You guys won. They're waiting on you to accept your trophy."

"Go away, Birdbrain," Jinx growled callously at him. "She doesn't want to see you ever again."

"Actually, Jinx, it's fine," Raven said with no emotion and no eye contact with Robin. "Why don't you and Argent go celebrate?"

Jinx glared her livid, pink eyes back at an anxious Robin and asked, "You sure, Rae?" Raven only nodded. Jinx grunted lowly and stomped past Robin, who was slowly making his way towards Raven, and grudgingly made her way back inside.

"Raven," the sorry boy called, but the girl still refused to acknowledge him. He stood directly behind her as she continued to sit on the crate away from him and sighed before continuing, "Look, I guess it's kind of obvious that maybe you like me a little more than a friend. Especially after that song you just sang. The words were simple yet meant so much to me coming from you."

"Hmph," Raven chuckled as if she didn't believe him.

Robin closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, and then let it out. "I know I shouldn't be rubbing the fact that I have another chance to date Starfire in your face, especially after the intimate moments we shared last night."

Raven blew air through her full lips, "You think?" Then, she proceeded to cut her violet eyes that he still couldn't see.

Robin halted replying for a second and once again cursed himself for really hurting the girl, "But I need you to understand that I'm only—"

"Save it, Boy Blunder," she forced as she finally stood up and faced his somber frown. "I get it. If I were you and I had another opportunity to be with Starfire, I'd probably give in, too."

Robin reached out a hand towards her but she stepped back before he could make contact. "Raven, I—"

"Maybe our fans were right," she uttered, her eyes pinned to the glass-littered ground as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Maybe you belong with Starfire and I belong with Beast Boy. Think about it. Star's tall, beautiful, has a nice figure, and a sparkling personality. She's super strong, a great friend, and an alien princess. You, you're the fierce, strong leader with no fears. Not to mention, you're tall, dark, caring, clever, and handsome. What more could a girl want?"

Robin was speechless. He knew many of their fans back home pushed for him and Starfire to be together and were even more devastated than them when they broke up. But it wasn't like he was going to listen to some random tweens and strangers for relationship advice.

"On the other hand," Raven's gruff voice continued, her eyesight still elsewhere, "I'm dark but not in a good way. I have purple hair, pasty skin, and big, bug eyes. I'm short and plain. Plus, as BB says, I'm creepy. Let's not forget I'm the spawn of the devil himself. And Beast Boy, well he's green, annoying, and dorky…need I say more. Of course, the two weirdos are supposed to be together."

"Raven, none of that—" Robin tried to talk but yet again she interrupted.

At least this time, she finally looked him in the face. Her amethyst eyes were dry and blank, not even reflecting half of what she might be feeling. "You and Starfire are a perfect match. You both have perfect existences. That's why so many of our fans ship you two together."

On a whim, Robin grabbed her smaller hand in his and squeezed it with all he had. All she could do was look away from his piercing gaze that she could feel even with the sunglasses hiding his eyes. "But, Raven, a lot of our fans ship you and me together too."

Raven violently snatched her hand away and snapped at him with sarcasm in her tone, "Yeah, well they're idiots. Don't they know how this works? You can't mess with fate." With that, she shoved him out her way and trudged over to the metal door. "Good night. I'm going to celebrate by taking selfies with our trophy all night."

Before Robin could try to stop her, the heavy door slammed shut in his face. He wanted to scream out and bang on the door in frustration, but he was thankfully able to keep his calm. This new world was messing everything up, and he wasn't doing anything to stop it. He thought about all that had just happened and decided that he was no longer going to focus on keeping this whole _I'm-not-a-different-Robin_ act up. Instead, he was going to go "home" and figure out who put them there and how to get out of there.

 **-O-**

Despite the fact that it wasn't "home", Robin was glad to be pulling up in his driveway. The night just seemed to be getting worse and he couldn't wait to put his head knee deep in figuring out who was behind this alternate universe. He needed to understand why him and Raven were the only ones who'd been switched and he needed to know precisely where they were. Were they in an alternate life or did someone like Control Freak or Mumbo Jumbo do something freaky with their universe. Did other dimensions actually exist? He never thought they did until Larry, but after that incident, he knew anything was possible. Nevertheless, he might've been a great detective and a tough fighter, but he wasn't a scientist. He didn't understand the logicalness or illogicalness of all of this, and that burned him to the core. He needed to solve this. He had to solve this. And he had to do it now.

When he returned back to the sitting area of the tea shop, Starfire had vanished without a word or a text or anything to let him know she was leaving. He figured she was probably upset as well. Here she was thinking that he liked her—which his alternate self probably did—when really and truly Raven was who he wanted. And both of the girls probably felt as if he had rubbed the situation in their faces. He didn't know what made him bring Starfire on a date to Raven's performance. He just didn't want to disappoint either of them. I mean, how do you decide which one of your friends you don't mind hurting the most? If you're a true, loyal friend, you can't make a decision like that. So…instead of one, you just hurt both of them.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home," the black-haired boy said the moment he turned the key in the lock. Ever since Friday, it'd been something he'd gotten accustomed to saying. He couldn't really tell if he was enjoying it yet or not, but at least he got to live a normal life for a few days.

He stepped further into the foyer and noticed the house seemed suspiciously quiet. Usually around this time, his mom would be finishing up dinner and his dad would be on the couch observing and shaking his head at the evening news. But the lights in the kitchen and dining room were off and the one in the living room area was shining a dim brilliance into the hall of the foyer. It was way too silent for the television to be on, and it was way too early for them to be sleeping.

Then, it hit Robin. They were a married couple who were still hot, feisty, and flexible. He had told them he'd be out much later than this, so of course they were using the empty house to their advantage. He was almost surprised he didn't hear a bed squeaking and moans above him upstairs. He laughed at the thought of catching his parents in the act and made his way into the living room to watch the news himself. Maybe there'd be another lead on who this serial killer could be.

Little did the smirking boy know, he was about to be living the ten o'clock news.

" _Oh my God!_ " Robin bellowed when he finally stepped over the threshold separating the living room from the hall. What he saw made him instantly cry out…over and over again. "Oh my Go…oh my…no, no, no…."

Hanging there from the chandelier in a similar manner as Speedy were both of his parents. They were both dressed in their old, signature, green Flying Graysons costumes including everything from the shoes to the white ribbons around their wrists. Unlike Speedy, they both looked peaceful in death as if they had died without even knowing what was coming to them. His mother's beautiful, thick black hair was pulled into a low ponytail and her eyelids were shut softly, hiding her cerulean blue eyes from Robin's sight forever.

The breathing boy fell to his knees in indescribable pain. He'd seen his parents fall to their deaths in front of his eyes once before. Never in a million years did he think he'd have to relive that helpless feeling ever again. Yet again, they had been killed, and he hadn't done anything to stop it. Instead of giving into Raven's pleas before, he should've just circled around the block a couple times to make sure the killer wasn't still out there. Instead of trying so hard to please a Starfire and friends that wouldn't matter to him in just a few days, he should've been trying to figure out who was behind the murders and who was behind him and Raven being stuck in this universe. Just like the first time his parents had lost their lives, he blamed himself.

 _Snap!_ The rope around his dad's neck suddenly broke, causing his long, masculine body to tumble to the ground. The weight of his fall brought Mary's limp body right to the ground with his. Thankfully, the round, red sofa broke both of their falls, causing their lifeless bodies to stack up on top of each other. Robin walked over and examined both of their backs. They both had one stab wound as deep as their future graves on the right side of their backs. The killer had purposefully pierced a major artery. Whoever the assailant was wanted them to bleed out in slow, painful deaths just so he could hang them up for Robin to find.

" _Aargh!_ " Robin screamed out in agony, punching the wall with all his might five times in a row. " _Ugh!_ " He wanted to cry so badly, but he didn't even know when was the last time his eyes had produced tears. Crying was not in his vocabulary. He was supposed to be tough and strong. He wasn't supposed to be the one to break under pressure or the one to fall victim to a situation, no matter how tragic it was.

Finally, he let go of the fact that him and Raven couldn't do this by themselves. This killer was bigger and much smarter than them. He always seemed to be one step ahead, no matter what. The only person he knew could solve this was Bruce. He just needed an extra push. So, Robin hurriedly picked up his phone and dialed the number Bruce had given just in case there was an emergency. Within minutes the older gentleman was knocking on the door with backup officers on his side. Robin reluctantly showed him the crime scene and tried his best to keep his cool when all of the crime scene investigators, paramedics, and other personnel began making their way in.

He promised himself he wouldn't watch as the medical examiner inspected his parents wounds and bodies then placed them into body bags, but he couldn't help it. He was in serious disbelief. He watched as they strapped the bodies onto stretchers and prepared to push them outside. When suddenly, his mother's arm fell from the side of her bag. Robin felt vomit rise in his throat at the sight of her wedding ring still perfectly intact, but her fingers a deadly grayish blue color. And he almost could've sworn he saw them twitch. Either way, it was too much for him, so he decided to look the other way and storm out through the back door to get a whiff of fresh air he definitely needed right now.

He stepped into the cool, crisp air of the oncoming night and just tried to relax his nerves as much as possible. He could get through this. He had grieved through his parents' deaths once before, so he could do it again. But the thought of doing that made his heart flutter. Seconds later, he wasn't so sure he was going to make it. He needed someone. He needed comforting and a warm heart. _He needed Raven._

Out of nowhere, the wind picked up causing the fallen, red leaves on the ground to flutter up like butterflies in front of his face. He shivered from the coolness of the night and admired the peaceful scenery. He wondered if any of his neighbors had heard any screams or struggling as the killer butchered his parents or did it all happen as serenely and silently as the night.

 _Crackle_. Something sounded off behind him. The noise sounded equivalent to someone stepping on a dry, crunchy leaf. Robin spun around, expecting to see Bruce or someone from his team, but instead he saw nothing but the bushes and fallen leaves floating around on the ground.

"Who's there?" the now angry boy mumbled but loud enough for anyone near to hear. "Show yourself."

Surprisingly, the stranger listened to his command. The thick bushes rumbled a little more and soon Jason appeared around the corner of them like a lost raccoon. Robin gasped. That was totally not what or who he was expecting to see. He almost expected to see the killer not Jason or any normal person. Unless…

"It's not what it looks like," the uninvited boy immediately raised his hands up in defense.

Robin rushed over to him and picked him up by his collar like he'd done Red X right before he knocked him unconscious. "Really? Cause it sure does look like it," Robin hissed and tried his best not to put strangling hands around the boy's neck.

Jason pulled his black hoodie out of Robin's grip and threw a wild punch at the boy's nose. "Don't touch me, asshole!"

Robin clumsily stepped back, touching the tip of his nose with the tip of his fingers and feeling fresh, wet blood. The blood still running through his veins boiled even hotter. "You son of a—"

"Robin!" A familiar voice rang through the moonlit night. Robin ceased the punch that was heading for Jason's gut and turned towards the voice. The hoarse, scared voice belonged to Raven. "Robin, what—what's going on?"

"He killed my parents!" Robin roared and dove towards him again, but at some time Bruce had made his way out there as well and was holding him back.

Jason's face scrunched up in a ball as another officer pulled him back before he could even attempt to throw another lick. "I didn't kill your parents, you dick! They were dead when I got here!"

"Why were you even here?" Robin cried out, out of breath and still in Bruce's strong hold.

Jason sighed as if he was contemplating telling the truth and continued to fight to get out of the policeman's grasp. "Whenever I'm sneaking out of my house, I climb over you guys' fence to make for a quick run. But tonight when I was walking by the house, I heard scuffling and screams. Kind of caught me off guard, but when I went inside to check on them they were hanging from the ceiling."

"Why didn't you call the police, idiot?" Robin asked yet another question that was on everyone else's mind.

Jason hocked a loogie at the dirt and twisted his nose up at Robin. "I freaked out, okay? And I didn't want to be a part of this. Everyone already thinks I'm a suspect! I only stuck around to make sure everything was okay."

Robin finally broke free from Bruce's grip and mumbled, "Whatever." Raven immediately ran over to him and placed a protective hand on his shoulder. She felt so bad for leaving him like that at the café. When she arrived home and saw all the cop cars, ambulances, and the coroner's van across the street, her heart nearly stopped. She thought she'd lost him.

"Even though Mr. Grayson has asked you almost all of the relevant questions, I think it's safe to say we should still take you in for questioning, Mr. Todd," Bruce uttered with a serious tone after a few seconds of unnerving silence and crickets chirping. "For now, all we can arrest you for is trespassing as there is a _no trespassing_ sign in their yard."

"What?!" Jason shouted as the officer holding him pulled his hands behind his back and hooked silver, metal handcuffs around his wrists. "I'm telling you I didn't do this! You have me confused with the wrong guy!"

"You have the right to remain silent…" The officer started as he struggled to push Jason away from the crowd that was slowly forming in the backyard.

"Mr. Grayson, I know this is hard for you, but you have to remember to stay calm and clever during all of this. You don't need any assault charges on your record," Bruce whispered in a fatherly tone to Robin. "Not to mention, you have to stay focused and alert at all times. There's no telling where this person will strike next."

"I understand," the ebony-haired boy bowed his head in defeat. He was losing his mind thanks to this alternate universe. He no longer even felt like himself.

Bruce nodded. "Great." Eventually, the crowd outside made their way back inside and all that was left in the yard was Robin and Raven.

"Raven," Robin croaked and fell to his knees in the damp soil of his mother's unfinished flower garden.

Raven ran to his side and helped him up out of the muddy ground. "Oh, Robin," she hummed in sympathy as she wiped a fallen tear off the boy's face. She couldn't see his eyes but she was sure they were soaked and filled with unimaginable pain and hurt.

"Raven," he whimpered again and pulled her into a tight embrace. The girl wasn't expecting it and gasped when he grasped onto her so firmly. His head was somehow laying on her shoulder and his body was quivering in her arms as she rubbed his back in comforting circular motions. A part of her wanted to cry, too. She'd never seen Robin so emotional and broken, and it was honestly something she thought she'd never see. No matter how strong the boy tried to prove he was in every which way, he was still human and he still had feelings. Of course witnessing his parents' dead bodies again would do something to him mentally and emotionally. All she could do was hold him in her arms as he had done her.

Suddenly, he pulled away, removed his glasses for a brief second to dry his eyes, and spoke softly to her, "Mind if I stay at your place tonight? I don't think staying here would be very soothing."

Raven smiled a frumpy smile. It was extremely miniature and he probably hadn't even noticed, but she wanted to try her best to stay positive like he would've done for her. "Yeah, of course. My dad's still gone and I can just send our servants away again.:

"Thanks, Raven," he drifted towards the ground then spoke up once again, "But the bigger question is how are we going to get out of here. I might be staying over your place, but I won't be doing much sleeping. I'm going to be up all night looking at leads, clues, notes, anything to tell us who sent us here and better yet why we are here and why so many of our friends are dying? There's so much to figure out, and I need your help."

Raven hunched a nonchalant shoulder. "We're Teen Titans. Isn't solving crimes and mysteries part of our job?"

"You're right," Robin mumbled.

A smirk slowly appeared on the girl's face. "Well, Titans go."

 **-O-**

 **A/N: Hey, sorry that was so long. I'm thinking there may only be about 3 or 4 chapters left. The next one should be shorter and have another chase-scene kind of death that you'll actually read as it happens. Don't judge me for picking that song. I heard the slow version of it a couple weeks ago and was instantly taken back to the 2006-2007 era when I first discovered fanfiction thanks to the cancellation of our beloved Titans. I thought it'd be a good homage to that time despite how annoying the original song can be lol. Thanks for hanging with me xoxo**

 _ **: I don't know why it always deletes your name. I usually have time to fix it but not that time. Oh well haha. Some horror movies have the killer going after the main character before the end, but not many. The only one I can think of right now is Scream. But I'm glad it took you by surprise lol. And Wally's definitely a good suspect…he's pretty suspicious ;) Thanks for reading!**_

 _ **runner: Thanks for the review! Yeah, he should probably get that phone fixed haha. And they should definitely stay one step ahead of the killer. Hopefully you liked the Jason cameo :)**_


	9. Dawn of the Dead

**Warning: Just wrote this tonight, so I'm sure it sucks and is covered in errors lol. However, the next chapter is the big reveal so that'll make up for it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans, any movies mentioned, or any of that stuff.**

 **9\. Dawn of the Dead**

"If it is Mumbo why hasn't he shown up yet?" Raven asked just hours after Robin had discovered his slaughtered parents. They were sitting in the study of the Roths' freezing, Victorian mini-mansion going over every probable possibility that might explain why they were there. They had already come to the conclusion that it was too real to be a dream. They realized that so far neither the Slade or Mother Mae Eye in this world seemed very threatening. They thought maybe Mumbo might've somehow transported them to another dimension, but where did he come in at? He wasn't at the scene with Red X and Red X always worked alone, so it wasn't like they were partners in crime.

Robin chewed on his lip as he pondered her question, then reluctantly breathed, "It has to be Red X. Nothing else seems logical."

"I wish we would've checked to see if there was a note at Aqualad's crime scene. Maybe that's why Jason was heading back to the natatorium," Raven tried to reason.

 _Ring, ring_ , her phone randomly vibrated on top of the oak desk they were sitting at, startling them both. The shook girl quickly composed herself and read the notification. Robin could tell it was bad news by the sudden enlargement of her violet pupils.

"It was Bruce," she mumbled, obviously trying to keep herself together, "apparently they're letting Jason go. His story checked out."

"Well, there goes our lead," Robin sighed and turned back to look at the notes he'd jotted down on an old piece of paper that'd been stuck in their printer from a paper jam. "I'm starting to think he's not our Red X. Sure, Jason might be Red X in our world, but I don't think this is him."

Raven's soft jaw clenched as she tried her best to hold onto the last bit of suspicion she had for Jason. She knew Robin was right, but if Jason wasn't a suspect, then no one was a suspect and that made her feel hopeless. "Then, who else could it be? Even if he isn't _our_ Red X, he's still Red X. He's probably still stone cold."

"Raven, I want to blame him as much as you do. That would make all of this so much easier," Robin started as his foot tapped ferociously on the hardwood floor. "But what's the point of blaming him if he's not the right guy. That's just going to prolong our stay here."

Raven folded her arms in her lap and slouched back in her chair. For a minute, she didn't say anything as she sat there silently thinking. Then, eventually she choked out, "What if the killer catches one of us before we get out?"

Robin eyed her out his peripheral vision in shock. He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. His fear matched hers, and he was just as scared of losing. He needed reassurance and confidence himself, so how was he going to help her find hers. "We have to stay positive and aware of our surroundings. Never get too comfortable. Check all areas. Be cautious of any and everyone. Never go anywhere alone. We have to protect each other, Raven."

Raven let out a long, dragging breath, "Okay. That's obvious. But what if none of that works and one of us dies."

Robin let out a frustrated sigh and forced, "Neither of us is going to die. Don't even think like that."

Raven hunched a nonchalant shoulder and deadpanned, "I'm just looking at the possibilities here. We have to be realistic, Robin." Then, she lowered her voice and softened up a bit, knowing that the wounds from his parents' second deaths were still fresh on his heart, "The killer almost got to me before. If something does happen to me, don't give up, Robin. Keep fighting until you get back home. Don't let my death be in vain."

 **-O-**

Meanwhile on the other side of the neighborhood, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, and Starfire were all rebelliously walking to the grocery store a quarter after midnight. It was starting to seem like no one was taking Detective Wayne's nine o'clock curfew seriously as everyone was still hanging around at the parks, going on dates, and casually walking down the street as they were doing.

A few hours before, Starfire had hurried out of the café before Robin could make it back. She hadn't necessarily been sad, just a little disappointed. But mostly in herself. She had a small feeling that Robin liked Raven before they began dating. She just thought that maybe it was a silly crush he'd get over after a period of time. But the crush was starting to seem as if it was growing into something bigger and stronger, so she had to cease their outgoings before they got too serious. She figured if she left the café before he tried to explain himself, it'd save him from looking like an ashamed jerk.

After scurrying outside and down the busy sidewalk of the small metro area, she had run into Beast Boy and Kid Flash who were making their way from the public library. Apparently, they'd been working on a school project together. One that they'd waited to the last minute to do since it was due tomorrow. As they were walking back to the neighborhood they all resided in, Kid Flash had the bright idea of having a small get together at his house the next day for Halloween. So, they decided to stop by the grocery store to pick up snacks and a few decorations in advance.

"Man, I wish I could throw a big party for Halloween," Kid Flash said with a disappointed tone as they made their way through the double doors of the store. "But my neighbors would call the police in a flash."

Starfire wasted no time hopping onto the front ledge of one of the carts and rolling around the lobby. "Come on, friends! It is most fun to play on the carts of shopping! Hehe!"

"Uh, Star," Beast Boy laughed nervously while holding up a parenting finger, "I don't think you're supposed to be doing that. The workers are looking at us funny."

Kid Flash quickly nudged Beast Boy in the gut, causing him to wince in pain. "Lighten up, BB. It's time for you to start having fun again." Then, he paused and whispered in the green-eyed boy's ear. "Besides, she looks so hot when she's excited. Let's just admire it."

"Hi, guys," a familiar voice called in the distance. They all jumped in fright and simultaneously turned to be head-on with a smirking Bumblebee, who was dressed in the black and yellow uniform of the store. "What are you guys doing here?"

Kid Flash relaxed and said happily, "Just picking up a few snacks for my Halloween bash tomorrow. Only my closest friends are invited. You will be there, right?"

Bumblebee heaved a relaxed shoulder and responded rhetorically, "Sure, why not?"

"Great." Kid Flash beamed, then turned to the friends he entered the store with. "Okay, Star, how about you go pick up ingredients to make punch. BB, you go pick up the chips, salsa, and trick or treat candy. And I'll go pick out a movie and a few creepy decorations."

"Dude, why do you get to pick the movie? I'm the horror film fanatic," Beast Boy whined childishly with a puppy dog frown on his face.

"Seriously?" Kid Flash remarked bluntly. "Everyone knows I'm the king of horror. I've been watching scary movies since I was in the womb. You know my mom was an extra in the Blair Witch Project when she was knocked up with me?"

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed suspiciously at his debate opponent. "Dude, I don't remember any pregnant chicks in that movie."

Kid Flash chuckled nervously, "Well, that's because she was way in the corner behind a tree or something like that."

"Hmph," Beast Boy said casually, "well, when I was a little tyke I was runner up for that kid who sees dead people in the Sixth Sense."

"Dude, we weren't even thought of when that movie premiered," Kid Flash laughed wholeheartedly at the boy's ignorance.

Beast Boy's face fell as if he was actually shocked to learn the truth. "Really?" KF could only nod as he was still snickering. "Must of been a dream. But I have seen The Exorcist over sixty times!"

Bumblebee giggled a short chuckle at Kid Flash's amusement and Beast Boy's attempt to redeem himself. "Are you two done? I have to get back to work."

"Yes, shall I go fetch the ingredients for the drink now?" Starfire questioned innocently, finally stepping off the cart and smiling a small smile with her emerald green eyes.

"Of course, Cutie," Kid Flash effortlessly went from a laughing maniac to a flirting fool as he wrapped a flirty arm around Starfire's shoulder, then shot a quick glance at the girl with the nice, thick, curly afro, "and Bumblebee."

Seconds later, they all went their separate ways down their respective aisles. Bumblebee smirked once again at her friends' silliness as she began stocking cans of vegetables on one of the shelves. She was lucky to have such great friends; they kept her mind off the not so great things she'd been suffering through lately. Ever since Cyborg died, she hadn't really felt like her sassy, confident self. She felt as if she was missing the other half of her body and her soul and she wasn't quite sure how to function without the missing pieces. Then, Speedy and Aqualad were killed and she felt even more alone in the world. Those two were always like brothers to her, slightly annoying brothers but she loved them nonetheless. She just didn't understand who was doing this to them and why.

Suddenly, her phone began vibrating in the back pocket of her khaki slacks. She was tempted to take it out and answer the call after such a long, boring day at work, but she wasn't one for breaking the rules. Besides she really needed this job. After her dad had gotten injured in that car accident a few months back, her family's income had been dwindling. Making her own money was the least she could do. And that's what she kept telling herself for the next five minutes as her phone continued to pulsate in her pocket. Customers walking down the aisle were starting to give her funny looks, so she just plastered a fake smile on her face and walked towards the backroom of the store.

She hid behind a few unopened boxes and glanced down at the screen of the device when she was sure she was alone. But it only said 'No Caller ID' which meant someone was playing with her and she wasn't one to play games, especially when it came to something as important as her job.

 _Ring, ring_ ,it began again, almost sending her into cardiac arrest. "Hello," she answered on an impulse and without even giving the person a chance to reply, screamed, "look whoever you are, you better stop calling me before I find you and stop you myself!"

"Hello, Karen," the voice said with a sinister snicker. "How's the single life going for you?"

Bumblebee's stomach tightened at the rude remark. This person obviously had no filter. "That was cold," she uttered after a minute of trying to maintain her patience. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to stuff your body into one of those brown boxes you're standing next to. Hehe," the person dragged calmly, sounding like he didn't have a care in the world. "Imagine your coworkers' faces when they go to stock the shelves with red wine and cranberry sauce and find your blood and guts instead."

"Screw you," she forced and moved to hang up the phone but was stopped by the person's voice.

" _Hang up on me and I'll decapitate you like a Thanksgiving turkey_!" the person roared murderously into the receiver.

With shaky hands, Bumblebee slowly moved the phone back up to her ear. Tears were now streaming down her face and mixing with the snot that was slowly dripping from her nose. She had no idea if she should move or stay in place. All she could do was try her best to stay focused and calm.

" _Now_ ," the voice dragged slowly, "do as I say and I'll spare your life."

"I'm not scared of you," she finally found the courage to spit into the receiver.

" _I said do as I say, bitch!_ " the killer screamed like a maniac in her ear.

Bumblebee impulsively stepped back in fear, causing all of the boxes behind her to tumble to the ground. All of the loud ruckus only worsened her nerves and heightened her rising blood pressure. She didn't know if she believed the killer when he said he would spare her life, but it was worth a try.

"O-okay," she stuttered, trying her hardest to not show her fear in her voice. She had to stay tough. "What do I have to do?"

The voice simply stated, "Lure your friend Starfire into the girls' bathroom."

Bumblebee sniffed and found it within her to sass, "For what?" The person didn't answer. "What are you going to do her, jerk?"

Then, he breathed softly in a cynical tone, "I only said I would spare your life."

"No!" Bumblebee retorted without hesitation, her voice echoing in the vacant stock room. "No, I won't do it."

The killer laughed an evil yet hearty laugh, "What, Honeybee? It's simple. A life for a life." Then, his attitude took an icy sharp turn for the worse. "You keep your life, she loses hers."

Bumblebee took an anxious, deep breath. She wasn't used to being a hero, only a leader, but she would rather go down in history as a martyr than live the rest of her life guilty because she allowed a murderer to take her friend's life. She was willing to sacrifice her soul to save the innocence that was Starfire's.

Finally, she decided to make her firm decision known to the voice. " _Come get me, bitch._ "

 _Click_ , the phone suddenly hung up. Bumblebee looked down at the screen in shock. It read "call ended". She didn't know if that meant she'd won or if it meant the killer was going to pop up on her when she least expected it. But she knew there was no point in standing there waiting for him to show up, so she took off as fast she could around the fallen boxes and dollies lined along the room. Before she knew it, she was back in the public area of the store, surrounded by customers and coworkers and speed-walking down random aisles looking for her friends.

In no time, she reached the silverware aisle where she saw a familiar redhead standing with his back facing her. "Wally!" she shouted to him and jogged to catch up. "Wally, the killer's here! You guys have to—"

"Bee?" Kid Flash jumped and spun around as she crept up on him. However, that wasn't the reason she ceased her speech. The reason she stopped was simple yet shocking. As she made her way toward him, she noticed he was messing around on his phone. At first she didn't think anything of it, but as she got closer to his back she could see him changing settings around. And when she finally reached him, it took him a long minute to actually turn around. It was almost as if he was in some sort of trance and couldn't hear or see anything else around him. Because of this, she clearly saw him switching the "no called ID" option back to "show my caller ID".

Tears welled up in the scared girl's eyes, but her anger taking over her spirit was welling up more. "Wally, did you just—"

"Hey, guys," Beast Boy popped up out of nowhere, making the two of them jump. He was wearing earphones in his ear, apparently bumping music from his phone, and had a handful of snacks. "No wonder it took me so long to find you. Why are you standing by the butcher knives, dudes? After all those murders the Jump City Slasher committed this weekend, those things just creep me out."

"Oh," Kid Flash laughed nonchalantly as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "I was texting and walking. I wasn't really paying attention."

Beast Boy smiled a goofy smile and looked at Bumblebee for her answer. The girl shivered in her skin and looked away from their gazes. "Uh, I was just about to ask the same thing." Then, she shot a quick glance at Kid Flash who was standing there seemingly happy and carefree. She felt her blood come to a bubbly boil. "I, uh, I'm going to get back to work. Catch you guys later."

"Friends!" Starfire popped up behind the two boys the moment Bumblebee faded from their vision. "I have retrieved all of the needed ingredients for our choice of beverages."

"Um, Starfire?" Beast Boy chuckled nervously as he eyed the items in the buggy. "Why is there a large, family-size bottle of mustard in there?"

"Because it is my beverage of choice," the girl said almost matter-of-factly but still with a toothy grin on her angelic face. "And it will add a great taste to the punch."

Kid Flash laughed with a small smirk on his face. "This is definitely going to be the deadliest Halloween of my life."

-O-

About an hour later, the store was closed to the public for the night. After cleaning up and making sure everything was in order, Bumblebee and her coworkers were preparing to leave. Being that she was one of the managers, she was the one with the keys to lock the door and had to be the last one to leave each night. Needless to say, after that frightening encounter she experienced just minutes ago, she was running to her car after lock up.

"Night, Bee," the last worker said as she sashayed out the back door.

"Night, girl," Bumblebee sighed and raided her purse for the keys as she stepped outside the door into the cold, nighttime air. She could hear the last worker's footsteps fading as more and more seconds passed. After a moment of searching, she still hadn't found the keys. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jacket and then her pants, but still no keys.

"Damn it," she cursed, quickly pulling the door open and running back to her locker in the break room. She usually remembered to put the keys in her purse, but the one time she forgot would be the one time she was scared for her life. She quickly put in the combination on her lock and snatched the keys out of the small hole. Then, she pulled her purse strap closer to her chest and practically ran towards the door.

However, this time when she stepped into the dark world outside, she was surrounded by frantic bees. The flying black and gold bugs wasted no time swarming around her and stinging her on every visible part of her skin.

"Ah!" she screamed, swatting as many bees as possible, but the pain was too much for her. " _Ah! Help! Help_!"

But all she could hear in return was _buzzz_ , _buzzz_ , _buzzz_. She knew they were her namesake but she wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the tiny and aggressive insects.

Finally, she found herself in clear, breathable air. Her whole face was so swollen with bruises and sting wounds, she literally had to pry her eyes open. And when she did she was face to face with the mask of a silent, ghostly entity.

" _Aaaaahhhhhh_!" she screamed without thinking and quickly took off running the opposite way, but her eyesight was barely there. As her pace slowed, she felt the killer getting closer to her and tried to encourage herself to speed up. Unfortunately, the flight or fight adrenaline that had coursed through her body as she was attacked by bees was seeming to fade away. Then, just like earlier, she felt a sudden wave of bravery wash over her.

"Come on! Fight like a man!" she turned around, biting her bottom lip with her fists in the air. When she felt the killer's presence come nearer to her, she swung her hand, barely making contact with the person's face. So, she tried again, this time letting go of a right hook. The killer ducked to avoid the punch and caught her arm before she could throw another one.

Before she could escape from the killer's grip, he threw a punch of his own towards her gut. But to her surprise, his punch was aided by a sharp, piercing butcher's knife.

"Argh!" Bumblebee grunted as blood spurted from the painful, fatal wound. She collapsed to the ground in sporadic, crying convulsions as gory, red gunk continued to gush from her abdomen. " _Help_ …"

With no hesitation, the killer aggressively yanked her up by her neck and sliced it with no remorse. Blood ran down her black polo shirt as her limp body fell from the assailant's arms towards the hard concrete. The last thought on the girl's mind was sadly, _"How are they going to know I'm a martyr if I'm not here to tell my story?"._ As one would expect, she no longer felt like a hero, but instead a dying fool.

 **-O-**

 **A/N: PLEASE READ :) Okay, that was horrible. I literally just typed this chapter up in about an hour and a half…maybe a little over that. So, it's probably filled with proofreading and grammar errors. Sorry for that, but I wanted to get this out before Halloween (even though it's technically already Halloween where I am) because I want the big reveal to come out on Halloween. Don't ask why, because I don't really know why lol. I just thought it'd be fun. With that being said, most of you guys probably won't read this chapter before I upload the next chapter. Either way, no matter when you're reading this, let me know who you think the killer (or killers *wink, wink*) are before reading the next one :) Thanks for reading!**

 _ **Lilac-Shimmer: Maybe the dash will stop it from deleting your name lol. Yeah, I try not to make Starfire suffer too much. Despite how annoying the RobStar fans are, I actually like her as a character and she's definitely not stupid. That meta stuff came to me out the blue lol I thought it was kind of funny. And I know, I almost felt bad for killing Robin's parents, but then again, I only included them for that reason haha. I feel kind of coldhearted myself now.**_

 _ **Zwaggy: Thought I was the only one who's too lazy to log in sometimes lol. I'm so ecstatic that you loved the chapter. The singing thing was another random thing I decided to include. This universe shouldn't have to be all bad for them. I'm definitely going to listen to that Shawn Mendes song now haha. I'm not sure if I've heard it before. Anyway, you'll definitely be seeing more of Jason in the near future ;) Hopefully, you feel better about the Starfire situation now. Thank you for your detailed reviews…I seriously love them :) And happy Halloween to you as well!**_

 _ **MEEE: I know you reviewed on chapter 1, but I just had to say hey :) Thanks for the review!**_


	10. Halloween

**A/N: I'm so annoyed. I wanted to upload this chapter much earlier, but I've literally been being distracted and interrupted all day. I've only have one chance to proofread so please excuse any mistakes. Also, sorry if this chapter is slow and sort of boring, the bigger part of the reveal is going to be the next chapter. Anyway, at least it's still technically Halloween, right lol? Thanks for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans or any of the movies.**

 **10\. Halloween**

* * *

"I got it!" Robin exclaimed the next day as him and Raven were walking out of the school towards his car. Unfortunately, Halloween fell on a school day this year, and what a long day it'd been. All day people had been getting slammed with detention and suspension for running around pretending as if they were—as Diana Prince dubbed him—The Jump City Slasher. Eventually, the principal got so fed up with the foolishness and the fact that so many students thought it was okay to bring a real knife to taunt their peers, that he just started sending them home.

"Got what?" Raven asked dryly as she eased into the cramped up passenger seat of the small Camaro.

Robin revved the engine and turned to look at her with an assured face. "What if we're in some sort of horror movie? What if this was some sort of cruel trick Control Freak pulled on us for Halloween?"

The sound of Raven's seatbelt could be heard clicking as she sat back pondering in her seat. "That actually makes a lot of sense." Then, her violet eyes squinted in confusion. "But why did he only choose us? And why are the other characters alternate versions of our friends instead of some random actors? Did he make his own movie?"

"Yeah, you're right," Robin blew a defeated gasp of air. "Well, I'm all out of options."

Suddenly, _tap, tap, tap_. "Ah!" Raven screamed, startled as someone began frantically tapping on her window. She cautiously looked to the side only to see the first person who'd made her jump in this universe: Kid Flash. She gulped then turned to peep at Robin who looked just as puzzled  & alarmed as her.

"You don't have to let down the window. I can just drive off if you want," Robin told her in a promising tone, grabbing her hand in the process.

Raven's eyebrows furrowed at that statement and pulled away from his hold. "It's just, KF. It's not like he's The Jump City Slasher." And with that remark, she finally rolled down her window.

"Sup, guys," the always energetic boy greeted, "I just wanted to make sure you were coming to my party tonight. Only our clique will be there."

Raven glanced at Robin who seemed unsure then turned back to the boy outside. "Um, sure," she uttered slowly.

"Awesome," he beamed then hunched a modest shoulder. "I just thought we all could use some fun, you know, after everything that's been happening. Besides, if we're all in one place maybe we can avoid the killer or better yet figure out who he is."

Robin squinted his eyes behind his dark glasses. That last sentence almost sounded suspicious, but it was a good point. "You're right. We'll be there."

"Cool. You can come around seven," he said with a smile, then a sneaky smirk deliberately found his lips. "That's when all the spooky stuff happens."

Raven watched as he sped happily away from the car. After that weird encounter, his happy mood almost seemed wrong. How could he be so content when so many of his friends had died in such a short period of time.

"Is it just me or does he seem-"

"Suspect?" Robin finished her sentence.

Raven's heart fluttered. _No way_. It just couldn't be true. "Do you think he's-"

"The Jump City Slasher?" Robin finished her question yet again. She only nodded up and down with a hint of doubt. "I don't know, but he's definitely been acting weird since we got here. There's something about him that's different from our KF. Can't tell what it is yet."

"It's almost like he has no care in the world," Raven mumbled softly, in total disbelief.

Robin bobbed his head and uttered, "Which makes him say inappropriate things and go around nonchalantly like there isn't something big and bad going on here."

"But maybe he's just overly optimistic. You heard his reasoning for the party."

"Yeah but what if-"

"That's just his way of luring us all to his house so he can slaughter us," this time the girl finished her best friend's question.

The ebony-haired boy pinched his nose. This was all way too much to handle. He needed his team. "Yeah, but even still I think we should go. Just in case we have to save or protect the others. This might be the only way we can figure out who the killer is."

Raven pursed her lips and stared at the school as students continued to pour out of it. "I'm starting to think the killer has nothing to do with why we're here. They must be two totally separate things which is why we can't find a connection."

Robin grimaced in frustration. "I think you're right. Hopefully, this is all just a bad dream."

 **-O-**

A few hours later, "Jinx, what are you doing here?" Raven questioned as she stepped out of Robin's small car. They had just made it to Kid Flash's home and apparently Jinx had pulled up in the driveway just seconds before.

"Wally, invited me for some reason. He blew up my phone around midnight last night, basically begging me to come," Jinx replied as she stepped out of her shiny, pink Beetle. Raven and Robin both shot a knowing glimpse at each other, which the pink-haired girl caught. "What?"

A whiff of a mixture of cotton candy and something musky swiftly filled the two birds' noses as they finally met up with her and began to make their way to the front door. "I thought he said he was only inviting people in our circle," Raven said bluntly. Sure Jinx was one of her closest friends but she didn't exactly get along with the others.

Jinx hunched a non-caring shoulder right before knocking on one of the hard, dark brown, windowed doors of the Wests' mini-mansion. "Well, he is my ex-boyfriend. Maybe he's trying to get back in my good graces."

Raven and Robin gasped quietly at her revelation. Her and Kid Flash together? Sure, it was true in their world, but even then it was shocking. It seemed even more unlikely now, but they figured that's probably why they were exes.

Before the two outsiders could make another comment, both of the doors swung wide open, revealing Kid Flash dressed in a cheaply, made, Great Value version of a Count Dracula costume complete with a black cape and all. His face was coated with stark white face paint and his ashy, gray-colored lips were dripping with fake blood that was probably made from red food coloring and corn syrup.

The host smiled largely, revealing fake bloody fangs in his mouth and motioned for them to come in. "Welcome, Young Blood. Right this way for Wally's Night of the Living Dead Extravaganza."

Jinx rolled her eyes and blew air from her smirking lips as she stepped inside and admired all of the last minute decorations he had strung along the hall. "Wow, Wally, if I would've known it was a costume party, I would've brought my devil horns."

Kid Flash cut the creepy act and playfully deadpanned, "You're a devil every day, Jinx." Jinx took that as an opportunity to whack him in the gut. "Ow! What was that for?"

Raven tuned them out as her and Robin made their way down the hall, admiring and observing the place. All of his decorations seemed to have something to do with the nonliving whether they were pictures of ghosts, mini statues of zombies, or the blown up grim reaper that was standing at the end of the corridor. Not to mention, the music he was playing wasn't the typical Halloween party songs like Thriller or Highway to Hell, but instead it seemed to be consisted of horror movie theme songs. All of it just made the spooky atmosphere much creepier.

"Where are the others?" Robin asked after a minute of Kid Flash annoyingly flirting with Jinx, who almost seemed to be enjoying it.

Both of the exes cleared their throats with a blush from the interruption. "Uh, Starfire and BB have been here for a while. They helped me with all the decorations and stuff since my parents are out of town," Kid Flash replied.

"Well, let's go to them," Raven ordered softly and allowed KF to show them to the others. As they walked from the hall into another room and then another hall, she was still having doubts about him being a suspect. Yeah, he was a little odd, but maybe that's all it was. He was just an awkward, annoying, but lovable person. She just couldn't see him being a coldhearted murderer, but maybe that was her problem. Maybe she was too gullible and too trusting.

After what seemed like forever, they finally made it into the living room where Beast Boy and Starfire were still putting the finishing touches on the decorations. The taller female was standing on a step stool trying her best to hang an orange and black banner that said _trick or treat_ while Beast Boy was standing not far behind guiding her.

"Almost got it. Just a little bit to the right," Beast Boy expressed anxiously while biting his lip. They had been trying to make sure the banner was properly aligned for almost thirty minutes now and he was growing tired. "There!" he exclaimed when it was finally perfect.

"Come on, guys. The others are finally here," the party host caught their attention as he sat a bowl of trick or treat candy on a table under the banner. "Let's get the movie rolling!"

Starfire observed the others who'd arrived and asked out loud, "Where's Friend Bumblebee? She said she would come as well."

Then, almost as if on cue, both Raven and Robin's phones went off, signaling a text message. They both looked down at the screens and had two totally different reactions. Raven's was one of desperation and grief; Robin's was one of anger and determination.

"That was Detective Wayne," the black-haired boy grunted to the floor and then slowly looked their friends in the eyes. He hated being the bearer of bad news. "They just found Bumblebee's body stuffed in one of the boxes in her stock room not too long ago."

"Oh my gosh, dude," Beast Boy gasped in horror and stumbled over to the couch. He took a deep, shaky breath and pushed his face into his hands. "Who is doing this to us? And why us?"

"Better question is why are you guys the only ones who get updates?" Kid Flash asked angrily and took an upset seat beside Beast Boy. "Bumblebee and the others were our friends, too. Do you guys get special treatment or do you just know what happens before us because you killed them?"

Raven glared at the boy's accusation. He didn't have the right to be suspicious of them when he was the one acting creepy. "No, you idiot. Detective Wayne has been working with us ever since we discovered Speedy and Aqualad's bodies, so whenever something happens he gives us a head's up."

"It's nothing against you guys," Robin continued for her. "He just hasn't had a reason to talk to you yet."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for accusing you," Kid Flash apologized after a minute, his jaw clenching over the horrible turn his "fun" party was taking. "I know you guys are our friends, but you've just been acting so weird since Terra died. I can't help but be apprehensive."

Raven sighed within her head. She didn't know how to explain their "suspiciousness". If she told them the truth, they'd really think they were crazy. "I understand."

"Guys," Beast Boy started, his fear obvious on his tongue, "but what if the killer really is one of us?"

Everyone was silent from the boy's question as they eyeballed each other warily, secretly wondering if any of them could actually commit such heinous crimes. They didn't want to suspect one another after being friends so long, but after all that'd been happening, they were learning to trust no one.

"Okay, okay," Jinx shattered the icy tenseness in the large but homey room. "Isn't this supposed to be a party? Cut the tension and let's have some fun."

"Friend Jinx is correct," Starfire expressed softly, blatantly sad that her friends were coming for each other's throats. She always hated when there was arguing and tension going on between them.

Suddenly, Kid Flash hopped out his seat and walked over to his television. Putting a fake Romanian accent back on his tongue, he sang, " _Scary movie time_. I picked up a few recent ones like Insidious and The Conjuring." He held up a few DVD's for them to observe, then bragged, "And I picked up my favorite classic: Halloween. Which one should we watch first?"

"Should we not just pick a random horror film on Netflix?" Starfire asked with confusion. There was no one she knew who still watched DVDs instead of just streaming movies.

Jinx sat on the floor in front of the blue couch as Raven and Robin took a seat on the red, love seat across from it. "Yeah, someone once told me the worse a horror movie is, the more entertaining it is, and we all know how bad the horror movies on Netflix are."

"No," Kid Flash declared firmly causing Jinx to grab her chest in defense. "DVDs are like today's VHS. They give the movie that old, creepy feeling."

Next, Beast Boy decided to give his opinion as he smacked and chewed on the candy the host had actually set out for any trick or treaters that stopped by. "I vote we watch Halloween first. It'll put us in a jumpy mood."

Kid Flash nodded in response then turned to Jinx and Starfire. "Whatever." "I'm with Beast Boy!" the two girls responded simultaneously.

"Raven and Robin?" he asked the two silent birds next. He was still slightly feeling bad for accusing them and was hoping they wouldn't leave.

They glanced at each other for an answer and nodded. "That's fine with us," Robin mumbled, barely audible.

Kid Flash beamed his usual smile and eagerly placed the movie into the old DVD player he'd found in his family's attic a few days before. Soon as the previews began playing, he ran back to the couch and plopped on the cushion between Beast Boy and Starfire. Raven rolled her eyes at his eagerness. He'd probably seen the movie over a hundred times yet was acting as if he'd never seen it before. Beast Boy almost looked just as excited as him, but Raven could still see a hint of sadness or maybe guilt for having fun in his sparkling green eyes. Starfire, on the other hand, looked as if she was about to pee her pants just over the scary movie trailers they were playing.

Suddenly, Jinx stood from her place off the floor and dusted off the long, black maxi skirt she was wearing. "I'm going to the bathroom," she announced and turned to walk away, but Kid Flash's flirty remark stopped her.

"You still remember where it is, don't you?" he said with a wink causing the girl to blow out annoyed air.

"Shut up, jerk," she sassed and started towards the bathroom again. "I'll be right back."

Out of nowhere, "Wait!" Beast Boy blurted and practically ran to hold Jinx back from leaving.

"Get off me, dork!" The feisty girl wasted no time pushing him off her and hissed, "What's your problem?"

Beast Boy laughed nervously and stammered, "Y-you said _I'll be right back_."

"So?" she spat angrily, crossing one leg over another and not really understanding what all of this was about. Plus, she really had to pee!

Beast Boy's eyes went wide in shock. "You don't know the rules?" Jinx's death glare was the only response he needed to continue. "Never say _I'll be right back_. It's the quickest way to get gutted."

"Psh," Kid Flash scoffed as he paused the movie and made his way over to the duo. All Starfire, Raven, and Robin could do was watch in amusement. "Those are the old rules. The new rules are much more twenty-first century."

"Oh, yeah," Beast Boy smacked, then said, "well why don't you tell us what they are?"

"Gladly," Kid Flash gloated, running over to hop onto the coffee table so that everyone could see him and his dramatics. " _First!_ Never split up or go your separate ways when there's something creepy going on. Haven't you seen Scooby Doo? Splitting up the group to look for the killer is just asking for someone to die. The bigger the group, the easier it'll be to take down the killer."

They all just laughed at his silly antics as he acted out everything he said for his guests to see. They all knew it was stupid, but it was pretty entertaining. And before they could say anything, he continued with a serious tone, " _Second!_ Never say 'oh, nothing's going to happen', because that's what the killer wants you to think. Doubt gets you killed every time. _And lastly_ , never think you're safe. Seriously, letting your guard down is the worst thing you can do. Soon as you think everything's okay, the killer shows up when you least expect it, therefore when you're least prepared, and then it's lights out for you."

After finishing his monologue, he hopped off the table and observed everyone's watching blank faces. Then, they all broke out into fits of laughter yet again. "Kid, you really should lay off the mushrooms. This isn't some horror movie. Those rules aren't going to stop the killer from killing us if he gets the chance," Jinx said with a teasing tone as she finished her chuckle. "Now, if you excuse me I'm going to the restroom. _I'll be right back_."

The moment she left Starfire shot up from her seat and exclaimed, "And I shall go make the popped corn!"

When Starfire was out of sight, Kid Flash looked at Robin and wondered aloud, "Starfire told us you guys aren't dating anymore. You think she'll give me a chance now?"

Robin growled lowly to himself. This guy was really starting to tick him off. "Weren't you just flirting with Jinx a minute ago? Are you trying to take Speedy's place or something?"

Fortunately, the redhead took that as joke and said, "Nah, I just like toying with Jinx. I've had my eyes set on Star for a minute now though. You don't know how thankful I am that you two are through."

"Yeah, me too," Robin mumbled to himself as he secretly reached for Raven's hand. She turned to him with big, questioning eyes and all he could do was smile. If there was one good thing this trip had done, it was show him just how fond of the girl he truly was. He didn't think he would've made it without her. Even if it was only because he wanted to protect her and get her back home safely.

"Can we play the movie? I'm getting bored," Beast Boy droned lazily minutes later. His head kept nodding drowsily as he was beginning to fall asleep while they waited on the two girls.

"No, we can't start the movie without—"

"I am back with the popped corn," Starfire intruded on KF's words. "Shall we begin the movie?"

"We have to wait on, Jinx," the boy reminded her.

"No," Raven said after holding her tongue for so long, "I don't really think she'd mind. She's not a big fan of horror movies anyway." Then, she deadpanned, "You should know that since you're her ex."

" _Oookkaayy_ ," the boy dragged and pressed play, "if she gets angry, I'm blaming you." And with that, he stood up and hit the lights so that the creepy level would be even higher. He believed it was almost criminal to watch a scary movie in the light.

Robin relaxed into the small, two-person sofa as the movie came to a slow start. He wasn't usually one for horror movies, but he thought they were fun to enjoy every once in a while. Yet, he didn't really know how to feel about them at a time like this.

Then, to his surprise, Raven reclined back into his defined chest, curling her legs on the side of her. He sat there still and stiff for a minute, not really knowing how to react. He didn't want to do anything that'd make her regret being comfortable with him, but he also didn't want her to feel as if he wasn't comfortable with her. So, he slowly wrapped an arm around her shoulder, allowing her to nudge her head into the crook of his neck. The bottom of his fingers gradually made their way down her bony spine until they reached her tiny waist.

" _Eeek!_ " Starfire shrieked as something frightening happened on the screen, dropping the bowl of buttery popcorn her and the other two were sharing. Raven and Robin quickly pulled away from each other, blushing from embarrassment in the dark room, even though the others probably hadn't seen them. They were both so into what was happening between them, they hadn't even been paying attention to the film.

Raven sighed as she realized it would be even more awkward to fall back into his arms now. She peeked over at Starfire and noticed that instead of looking scared, she almost seemed angry. She shot Raven a tiny, nearly invisible glare. It was almost as if she had purposely shrieked to separate them. Raven scorned herself. What were they doing? Of course it would hurt Starfire to see her and Robin cuddling. They had only stopped dating the night before. Raven had to keep reminding herself that, since in her world it had been months since Starfire had even looked at Robin in that manner.

"Is it just me or is it taking Jinx a mighty long time to come from the bathroom?" Kid Flash asked after picking up the popcorn Starfire had spilled on the carpet.

Beast Boy laughed and suggested, "Maybe she ate too much trick or treat candy before coming over."

"I'll go check on her!" Starfire offered and jutted out the room and down the long hall.

Kid Flash chuckled at the other redhead's eagerness to leave the room and whispered so she and the other girl wouldn't hear, "I think both of them are just trying to get out of watching the movie."

 _BOOOOOOOOOOOM!_ Something that sounded like a bomb suddenly exploded inside the house. Before they could think or run, one whole side of the mansion was engulfed in hot, burning, orange flames. Thankfully, nothing struck any of them as the furniture in the room was flipped upside down and thrown far distances. Robin covered Raven's body with his and made sure nothing hit her as the fire began making its way into the destroyed room.

" _Ack!_ " Kid Flash coughed as smoke quickly began to fill his lungs. "Dudes, what just happened?!"

Raven aggressively forced her body from Robin's grip as she recalled the events that took place just moments before the explosion. "Jinx!" she bellowed in fear and took off towards the fire and smoke. There was no way she was letting anymore of her friends succumb to this madness. Even though Jinx wasn't her friend yet in the real world, she was looking forward to her becoming one.

"Raven!" Robin screamed after her and tried to run behind her but she was suddenly lost in the smoke that was covering his eyes. "Raven, please come back!"

"Dude!" Beast Boy ran into him as they both tried to gain back their sight. "What's happening?!"

Robin coughed and coughed, trying his best to hold on to every bit of oxygen he held in his lungs. Then, he grabbed Beast Boy by his shoulders and shook him till he calmed down. "Beast Boy, go look for Starfire! I'm going to look for Raven! The killer must be around here somewhere!"

"Guys, there's something wrong with the phones," Wally coughed somewhere behind them as the growing fire continued to crackle in their ears. "I can't get a signal!"

"Go get help! Run to the neighbors' house and get help while we find the others," Robin ordered as if he was commanding his team. Technically, he sort of was.

"Okay!" he heard Wally's voice shout back and Beast Boy's footsteps moving away from him. Thankfully, one side of the house was still perfectly intact. He figured he'd leave the untouched side for the less brave boy. He decided he was going to take it upon himself to fight through the scorching fire and smoke since he knew Raven and Starfire had both gone that way.

He tried to hold his breath and crawl in certain areas where he knew the fire was beginning to turn deadly. All he could hope for was that his two friends were okay and that the killer wouldn't reach him before he reached them.

Meanwhile, Raven had actually found her way outside into the Wests' backyard. She had looked all over the house as best she could with the fire, smoke, and panic in her heart. She had checked every bathroom, but saw no sign of her newfound friend. She had only gone outside when she realized the backdoor was slightly ajar during her search for the girl. Her heart cried as she tossed and slung every piece of furniture the family had sitting on their porch. But there was still no sign of the girl.

"Argh!" she screamed out in frustration and stumbled off the concrete of the porch, tripping over something hard in the grass. "Ow!" she sputtered out in pain as she felt her ankle twisting the wrong way.

 _Great, just great_. Now, she was going to be limping everywhere. She tried to regain her composure and figure out what had made her fall in the first place. She carefully moved her foot only to see five, sharp, pointy, black things sticking from the ground. She inspected the oddly shaped items closer and realized that the one in the middle had a sparkling, white gem sticking to it. Something was familiar about that gem and for some reason reminded her of the sing-off the night before.

Then, it dawned on her. She remembered admiring those same black, pointy things as Jinx practiced on her acoustic guitar right before going on stage. _They were the pink-haired girl's fingernails_. Raven quickly clasped her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming out. She crawled over to the area and wildly dug the dirt up with her hands. But when she finished digging, all she found was a severed, bloody hand.

"Oh, Azar," she wept to herself and looked around the yard only to see random areas where the ground had obviously been freshly dug up. She stood up and limped over to another spot as fast as she could and began digging. This time she found a detached ear with the earrings still hooked inside. She almost gagged at the sight and went over to another freshly burrowed spot. She braced herself for what she would find this time as this spot seemed lumpier than the others. As she began to dig, pink fibers started seeping through the soil. Raven cried out, already knowing what she was about to discover. When she finished digging, Jinx's blank yet frightened, pink eyes were piercing into her soul.

"I'm so sorry, Jinx," the alive girl whimpered to her friend's now soul-less and apparently decapitated body.

 _Crackle!_ Something sounded off in the close distance. Raven jumped, knowing it was probably the killer. She turned around only to be knocked in the head with a gun by the person standing behind her. Her body slowly fell out of consciousness and quickly into the arms of her attacker.

Back inside, Robin was still on his hands and knees searching for the two girls. He was beginning to make his way into kitchen where the fire seemed to have started. It took every bit of focus he had to avoid being touched by the hot, fatal flames. After a minute, he saw something human-like laying on the floor ahead of him. He hopped up to his feet, covering his mouth to prevent himself from breathing in the pollution and ran as fast as he could toward the figure.

"Oh my God," he wailed the moment he reached it. The smell of burnt flesh instantly began to take over his sense of smell as he observed the charred body that was lying motionless at his feet. The body was so badly seared, it no longer had hair and all of its clothes had dissolved off into thin air. Even though the face was disfigured, it obviously belonged to Starfire. After living with her for three years, he could recognize her beautiful face and her shapely body anywhere.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Star," the boy whispered to the girl's lifeless body. Then, he realized he had to get to Raven before he discovered her deceased body next. He didn't think he'd be able to live with himself if that happened. So, he hoped and prayed that maybe she had found her way to the undamaged side of the house and took off towards that way.

As he was running, he felt his heart palpitating fast against his chest and his energy dwindling. He didn't know how much longer he could make it in the smoke-infested building. It was starting to take a toll on his athletic body.

Suddenly, "Ugh!" he slammed right into a meandering Beast Boy, who for some reason seemed much calmer than before. Robin breathed out in relief. He'd already figured the boy had succumbed to the flames. "Beast Boy! I'm glad I found you! I thought you were dead! Come on, let's find Raven and get out of here before our lungs collapse!"

Robin pulled on Beast Boy's arm to drag him out of the room, but his feet were bolted to the ground. Unexpectedly, a sinister smirk found its way onto his face and into his cold, green eyes. "I'm not dead, _but you are_."

Robin stared at the virtually psychotic expression on the boy's face in confusion. "What?" he choked out, his chest heaving uncontrollably from the lack of oxygen. Then, his ocean blue eyes grew the size of two large tires behind his glasses that were magically still on his sweaty face. The truth had finally dawned on him. Of all people, the coldhearted, evil person that had been murdering all of their friends was _Beast Boy_.

"And don't worry," the crazed boy let out an evil, hearty laugh. "We've already found Raven."

Robin's eyes squinted. Who else could it be? "We?"

"Yes. _We_ ," an even more murderous sounding voice hissed behind him. But this voice was way more feminine.

Robin slowly spun around, scared of what might actually be behind him. He prepared himself for the worst and soon realized that was a great decision when he saw the person that was holding a small, black pistol upside a crying Raven's bruised head.

"Starfire?"

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, okay, don't kill me. Next chapter is going to explain why I chose them ;) Don't worry…Jason's going to show up next chapter. Thanks for reading!**

 _ **Lilac-Shimmer: Yeah, I think that's why it was deleting it. Anyway, ugh! Why must you always read my mind lol? I'm sure that was a playful guess, but it was the right one. And I didn't know how to fit in a KF/Star relationship in here, so I just added the flirting :) Thanks for being a loyal reader/reviewer even though you're not a fan of horror movies/stories. It means a lot!**_


	11. Halloween: Resurrection

**A/N: I really had every intention to make this chapter shorter, but it didn't turn out that way. The last two most likely will be short though. Also, sorry for taking so long to update. I was kind of unmotivated with everything for a while. But I'm back! Please excuse any grammatical errors and enjoy ;)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or movies or whatever :)**

 **11\. Halloween: Resurrection**

 **-O-**

"Surprised, Robin?" Starfire teased just seconds after Robin's shocked reaction. Her polished, metal pistol was still being pressed into Raven's skin on the side of her head. "How does it feel to be outsmarted by the ones you always believed were dumb?"

Robin stood in silence and unnerving fear as he watched huge blobs of tears stroll down Raven's usually brave face. He decided not to make a peep. He didn't want to make the wrong move that would end it all for her. Soon as he made his decision, Beast Boy approached him from the side and held a knife up to his neck. "Answer her."

Robin gulped. When did Beast Boy get so tall…and strong…and evil? As he thought about his own teammate, he realized he hadn't noticed just how much the boy had grown over the years. He was no longer the puny whiny joker he was before. Now, he was a little more mature, a little buffer, a little quicker, a little smarter, and a lot more serious, though his silly side still outweighed the sternness. The new and improved Beast Boy was almost…intimidating to Robin.

Out of nowhere, the boy shoved him hard in his shoulder, making his glasses finally fall off his face, and gave him a menacing look that screamed _'do it or I'll kill you'_. "I-I, _we_ never thought you guys were dumb. Only naïve."

" _Ha_ ," Starfire laughed harshly, gripping Raven tighter around her scrawny neck. The pale girl was trying her best to pry the stronger girl's arm from around her but her limb wouldn't budge. "I wasn't naïve enough to see through your deceit, was I Robin?"

Robin squinted his watery blue eyes as his eyebrows furrowed gravely above them. "What do you mean? I'd never deceive you, Star. We're friends, remember?" he spoke softly and calmly as if he was talking to a young kid or a puppy, but that might've been a big mistake.

"Argh!" the girl screamed loudly in Raven's ear, causing her to jump in the redhead's hold. "I am not a child! I will not be spoken to like I am stupid!"

"Apologize," Beast Boy demanded as he shoved the large, sharp knife towards Robin's face in a threatening manner.

Robin raised his hands up in defense, he wasn't even trying to stop the obvious trembling they were doing, and breathed in a less demeaning manner, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I just—"

"You don't have to do this, Star," Raven uttered, silencing everyone for a brief second. Her voice was in a monotone, though the horror and tear streaks on her face told a different story. For a minute, all that could be heard was the fire growing and crackling behind them as they stood in the remains of the television room they were watching the movie in just moments before.

"Shut up!" Starfire bellowed, slamming Raven hard against her noggin with the gun. "Or I'll be forced to shoot you."

"Hey, don't touch her like that!" Robin screamed as he attempted to lunge forward at the violent perpetrator, but was yanked back by Beast Boy's animalistic claws. Robin fought to get out of his grip, but Beast Boy was determined to keep him away from the two girls. Apparently, he had been lifting extra weights in P.E. because Robin slowly began to feel overpowered. Then, like a weakling, Beast Boy pulled out the knife, using it as a crutch to keep Robin in his place since the black-haired boy knew he wouldn't be much use to Raven with a slit throat.

" _Augh!_ " Robin let out a frustrated growl as he watched thick, salty drops of water roll out of the eyes of the one he loved and onto the stained carpet in slow motion. His heart quickly grew murderous at the site of another bluish almost purple bruise forming on the side of her forehead. Never did he want to hurt a girl as much as he wanted to do Starfire right now. He never thought he could feel so much hatred for the redhead he was used to calling his friend.

"I bet you wanna know why, huh, Robin?" Beast Boy pestered with a glimmer of laughter into Robin's ear. When the shaking boy didn't answer, Beast Boy kneed him in the back and pulled the knife just a little closer to his neck. "Huh, Robin?!"

"Y-yeah, I want to know," Robin cried out impulsively as the pain in his weak body started to take over him. The smoke in his lungs was enough to make him pass out, but he wouldn't dare leave Raven alone with these madmen.

"Tell him why Starfire," Beast Boy commanded the girl. Both Raven and Robin were confused about who had the more dominant role between the two. They both seemed to control each other.

Starfire laughed an almost mute, girly giggle and began, "Ever since I met you Robin, I hoped you would be the boy for me. You were always so kind. When others insulted me for my naivety, you assured me I was intelligent. You are handsome and everything a girl like me could want. I'd never been more excited when you asked to court me. I truthfully enjoyed our long walks along the bay, our movie dates, and picnics. I have kept every rose you have given me and memorized every kiss we have shared."

"So, imagine the darkness my heart felt when I realized I was not the one you truly loved," she said with a silent but lethal glance at the girl she was slowly strangling in her grip. "Before we began dating, you assured me that Friend Raven was only a friend and nothing more to you. But after a few encounters with her during our dates, I could see in your eyes that that was not the truth."

Starfire paused yet again, but no one was brave enough to speak, not even her malicious partner. They all could hear the aching and tears in her voice even though she was trying her hardest to not show any emotion on her wicked, beautiful face. Then, closing her eyes as if she was bracing herself for the worst, she gulped and slurred with the sharpness of a freezing, crystal icicle, " _You love her_."

Once again, everything was silent. Raven couldn't manage to say anything due to the extreme amount of guilt she was suddenly feeling. Beast Boy was too locked into the story to break it with his boyish voice. Robin, well, he chose not to say anything, because he simply couldn't argue with her statement. He knew it was the truth and nothing he said would make the situation better.

Finally, Raven mustered up the nerve to choke out in her signature bluntness, "And what about you, Beast Boy? I'm sure your reason is just as absurd and selfish as hers."

"Ugh!" Starfire grunted at the shorter girl's choice of words, but Beast Boy's joker-ish voice stopped her from striking her again.

"Don't play dumb, Rae," he breathed just loudly enough for everyone to hear. "My reason's not much different from Star's. For years, I've done everything in my power to show you how much I care about you and like you. And what do you always do? Insult me and call me stupid. You never laugh at my jokes! Even when I tried to leave you alone and date that betraying cunt, Terra, you still couldn't be happy for me."

"And I must say, the look on Terra's face when she saw who was plunging her heart with a knife over and over again was priceless," Starfire's voice and laughter rang in a fuming Raven's ear. The smile on the redhead's face disappeared only a second after her last giggle as she deliberately pointed the gun at Robin's chest. "Betrayal hurts doesn't it, Robin?"

"But why did you murder all of our friends?!" Raven screeched, fed up with all of the ignorance that was taking place before her eyes. "Just because you're angry with us doesn't mean go around slaughtering our friends, you idiots! They had nothing to do with it!"

"Shut up, whore!" Beast Boy screamed and covered his ears as if he was hearing high-pitched voices. "Shut up! _Shut up!_ _SHUT UP!_ "

"Raven, please," Robin begged as he slumped lower and lower to the ground. Beast Boy had let go of him in his fit of rage yet he still couldn't move. He could feel himself slowly rolling in and out of blackness and he didn't know how much longer he could hold on.

"Be calm, Beast Boy," Starfire ordered with annoyance. Despite how it might've seemed to the others, she was growing tired of him as well. He was by far the worst partner she could've chosen to help her commit these murders. In fact, she'd only chosen him because he was damaged and gullible as well. "As for you, Raven, do not question us and our actions. Besides, it was all worth it to see the sheer look of fright and anger on your faces now."

Raven bit her lip to keep from lashing out as she watched Beast Boy take hold of Robin once again. She hated feeling helpless and defeated. There was no way she was going down without a fight, but first she had to get the two of them off track and comfortable. "So, who'd you kill, Beast Boy?"

"What does it matter to you?" he spat angrily.

Raven hunched her shoulder as best she could with Starfire on her back. "I'm just interested in knowing. I always thought you were too weak to physically hurt anyone on your own."

"I'll have you know I took down Cyborg, the biggest, strongest athlete at our school," he boasted proudly as a sideways smile found his face. "Your little fishy boyfriend Aqualad was a piece of cake. I never liked him much anyway. Robin's parents were way too welcoming and trusting. Took both of them down with one stab. And Bumblebee let her guard down so easily. She tried to fight back but I packed a meaner punch."

"You're an evil son of a bitch!" Raven roared, spit bouncing off her tongue and splashing onto the ground. Then, she found enough courage in her body to pull away from Starfire yet again, but still she didn't succeed. "Let me go! I said let me go _NOW_!"

"Not a chance," Starfire snickered, then continued, "I already let you go once before. There's no way that's happening again."

Raven came to an abrupt stop and stood silently in place as she recalled the events that took place in her mansion just days before. "Wait, that was you that chased me in my house? That was you I tripped down the stairs? That was you that tried to strangle me, but ran like a coward when you heard Robin's voice?!"

"YES!" Starfire bellowed, then proceeded to brag as if she was proud of what she had done, "And it was me who took down that womanizing Speedy and chopped up your beloved friend, Jinx. Did you _blorgnaks_ really believe it took that long to make the popped corn?"

" _Ack!_ " Robin coughed loudly, his lungs sounding as if they were disintegrating into his bloodstream. Raven was beginning to grow worried for the boy she cared deeply about. How ironic would it be if he ended up succumbing to the smoke that was polluting the house instead of a plunging, butcher's knife?

"I know you got something to say. Spit it out, Birdbrain." Beast Boy aggressively nudged Robin in the crook of his back once again.

" _Ack! Ahem!_ " Robin coughed in an almost sarcastic manner. If it wasn't for the grave situation they were in, Raven might've chuckled at his mocking. "But, Star, didn't I see your badly charred body in the kitchen? I know your face and figure. Who else could it have been?"

Robin almost regretted his question when he saw the malevolent fire that flickered in Starfire's bright green eyes, but he had to know. The identity of the body had been bothering him ever since she confessed herself to be the other killer.

After a minute of silence, Starfire simply stated. "I always despised my sister, Blackfire. She was so cruel to me when we were children and always did everything she could to get me in trouble with our guardians. Her killing was the most satisfying, I must say."

Robin closed his eyes and hung his head low in disappointment. Of course the body was Blackfire. The girl was practically Starfire's twin. But still, he wasn't going to let simple mistakes keep him down. So, he soon found himself holding his head up high with confidence. "You're not going to get away with this, you know?"

"Bullshit!" Beast Boy roared like a wild lion once again. Suddenly, he let go of Robin in his state of anger and franticness. "You wanna know how I know?" This time Robin actually nodded before he could react. "Tell him, Star."

The redhead girl shot him a frustrated look and breathed, "Why must I tell him? It was your plan after all."

Beast Boy clenched his hard, masculine jaw. "Fine. Stay put while I go fetch our next victim." And with that, he turned to walk up the stairs. Starfire sat tight in her place, constantly motioning the gun at each bird. Raven and Robin could do nothing but shoot scared and angry looks at each other. They had no idea how to get out of this situation without someone getting hurt, but they were going to have to come up with something soon or both of them would end up dead.

"Untie me, you dick!" They all suddenly heard coming from the top of the steps. Both Raven and Robin knew that voice from the recent encounters they'd had with it.

When Beast Boy and the uninvited guest's faces appeared at the bottom of the steps, "Jason!" Robin screamed out and ran to help the boy who was being held hostage with tight, red ropes around his arms, wrists, and ankles. He could barely walk down the steps and was close to falling on his furious face.

"Get back!" Beast Boy shouted when Robin approached them. "Stay away or he dies."

Robin slowly backed away with his hands up in surrender. He tried to casually stand next to Raven as if he was standing there before, but Starfire was no fool and used the gun to force him back to his previous standing spot.

"Why's Jason here?" Raven wondered out loud. "He has nothing to do with it. Leave him alone."

"Oh, that is where you are wrong, Little Bird," Starfire retorted almost instantly. "See Jason is the actual Jump City Slasher. At least that is what the police will believe."

"How are you going to get them to believe that?" Jason spat as he struggled to loosen the ropes around his joints. "You're an orange-skinned, small-tit bimbo and he's an idiot with a low IQ and doggy breath. There's no way you'll be able to frame me."

It took everything within Starfire to not shoot him right then and there. She bit her bottom lip to refrain from attacking him and uttered softly, "It is simple. We will murder all three of you and tell the police Jason shot the two lovebirds and we killed him in self-defense. Then, they will believe we are the only survivors of this massacre and we will go on about our lives happily and _together_."

"Together?" Robin shot, confused by her words.

"Yes," Starfire answered almost excitedly, as if she was trying to hurt him with her response. "Through our ploy to murder you all, Beast Boy and myself have grown exceptionally close. We believe it is only right that we spend our lives together."

"You nuts are crazy," Jason laughed nonchalantly as if his life wasn't in danger. Robin gave him a scorning look, but it didn't seem to faze him.

"Robin," Raven called delicately to the boy she had grown even closer to over the last few days. "Remember what I said about not letting me die in vain?"

"Yeah, I do, but—"

"I mean it," she hissed as a tear splashed from her face onto the sooty, wooden floor they were standing on.

"No, wait, Raven what are you going to do?" Robin questioned, panic suddenly filling his heart as Starfire and Beast Boy braced themselves for whatever was about to take place.

Raven forced her weeping, violet eyes closed and whispered so that hardly anyone could hear, "I love you, Robin." Soon as she mouthed that statement, she finally broke free from Starfire's loosening grip and turned around to whack her in her jaw with a hard, balled fist. " _WHY DON'T YOU KILL ME ALREADY, YOU DERANGED BITCH?!_ "

" _Augh, stupid blorgnak!_ " Starfire winced in pain as she grabbed her throbbing, red jaw and turned to her assailant with a diabolical, green gaze.

Raven spun around looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. Her eyes fell upon a busted lamp that she swiftly used to smack Starfire upside her head, making the red-haired girl fall to the floor from the trauma. Still, she wasted no time jumping back up and grabbing Raven by her gaunt throat. Raven head-butted the other girl in her forehead with her own hard skull and slammed another fist into her pretty mouth.

"Raven, no! _STOP!_ " Robin shouted as if he was screaming for his life, even though he was truly screaming for her sake. Now, he was in his own aggressive scuffle with Beast Boy. Every time he tried to run to save the petite girl, he was knocked down by another blow from him. If only Jason could help, things would be much easier.

"That's what I'm talking about! Kick her ass, Raven!" Jason cheered with a snarky laugh as Raven and Starfire continued to rumble and compete with each other. Despite the situation, seeing hot girls tumbling around and throwing licks at each other was always entertaining.

Suddenly, Raven slammed the girl who once held her life in her hand hard against the sturdy wall. Starfire's head bounced off the solid plaster with extreme force and resiliency, making her slide down to the floor in excruciating agony. For a minute, she seemed as if she had no more fight left in her. Raven used this downfall to her advantage.

Though her ankle was still throbbing from her fall off the porch, she ran to unfasten the ropes restraining Jason, who was beyond happy to be free, and turned to Robin to yelp, "I'm going to find help! Keep fighting and don't give up!" With that, she turned to run away from him just as she did when she went to look for Jinx.

Robin's heart withered as she drifted away from him for the second time that night. With her out of his sight, he would be in a constant worry not knowing if she was okay. He held back his fearful tears as he continued fighting with Beast Boy before something in him compelled him to shriek, "No, Raven, wait—"

 _Pow! Pow! Pow!_ Without warning, gun shots cracked through the smoky, foggy air. For that quick moment, time seemed to stop. Jason was standing in his place near the staircase with a random bat in his hand, ready to swing at Beast Boy. Beast Boy stopped his own punch that was flying toward Robin's throat midair. And Robin's heart froze as his body was suddenly pulled into reality. For a while, he had been in some kind of delirious trance as he tried his best to stay conscious, but those gun shots had done something to his brain, to his heart, and to his blood. And he wasn't ready to face whatever the consequences of those shots might've been.

"Oh shit," Jason whispered lowly, shocked at what he saw in front of him. There laying chest down on the ground was Starfire holding a smoking pistol in her shivering hands. Just a couple feet ahead her was another body lying face down on the carpeted floor in a similar manner. But what was different about this body was its stillness and the pool of deep, dark, garnet-colored blood that was slowly gathering around it.

" _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_ " Robin bellowed and leapt towards an unprepared Beast Boy, knocking him into the hardwood case of China plates behind him. Beast Boy's toned body shattered the glass of the windows and the dishes on the shelves. Before he knew it, he was being stabbed in his neck by thick pieces of glass and pierced in the back by his own murdering knife. He had placed the knife in his pocket during his brawl with Robin, but he never thought it'd end up injuring him in the long run.

Starfire sighed out loud, almost in relief as Beast Boy noisily gulped for air. Robin glanced up from his place on top of his opponent and saw the boy's partner aiming the hot weapon his way. He rolled off just in time as she prepared to pull the trigger. _Pow!_ Rang through the air once again as she sent a burning bullet towards Beast Boy's forehead.

"Thank the Tameranean gods. I had been thinking of ideas to get him out of my way for some time now." Then, her head snapped in an almost demonic way towards Robin, her eyes filled with untainted malevolence. "Now, your turn, Robin."

Robin tried to gather up a little courage and adrenaline, but Raven was gone and he felt as if he no longer had anything to fight for. He'd never experienced the amount of pain he was feeling now, and he could truly say it was heartbreaking. He had seen too many dead bodies over the last few days and it was taking a huge toll on his confidence and optimism. Without Raven, he didn't really know how he would make it. She was the most hopeful person he knew. _He needed her._ But more than anything, he loathed this otherworld Starfire, and there was no way he was letting Raven's death be for nothing.

"Ugh!" Robin grunted as he flung a broken shard of glass at the redhead girl who was still holding the gun in his direction. She ducked as he dove towards her and twisted her arm behind her back, causing her fingers to lax and let go of the gun in her grip. Jason kicked the gun to the side in the process of him sprinting out of the room like a scared chicken. Robin shook his head at the boy and held up a defensive stance to protect himself from Starfire's thrashes. Despite her strength and determination, Robin was still stronger in his manic, fed up state. Plus, he no longer cared that she was a girl. She was throwing all kinds of punches and kicks at him and in return he did the same to her but in an even more violent way.

Eventually, he found himself with his hands around her throat, ready to strangle her as she tried to do Raven just days before.

"Guys, I found help! They're—" Kid Flash's voice suddenly filled their ears as he made his way back into the flames and smokiness of the house. When he saw what was taking place, he almost fainted from shock.

"Wally, leave now!" Robin commanded as he squeezed her esophagus tighter and tighter. He could see the face he once thought was the most beautiful face he'd ever seen turning blue. Her once lively, emerald eyes were filled with fear and exasperation as if they were begging him to let her live.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Kid Flash responded loudly, but instead of leaving, he hid behind the destroyed sofa that was turned over on its back so that he could see exactly what was going on.

Robin ignored the boy's actions and looked back at the girl he was attempting to kill, but all he could see were her puppy dog eyes. The ones that before had only convinced him to do meek things such as go shopping with her and eating her latest concoction. For a moment in time, all that could be heard was the shallow gasps of air she was trying her darnest to hold onto. It was then he realized exactly what he was doing. _He was murdering his own friend._ He was turning into her and Beast Boy. He couldn't allow himself to stoop to their level. Not to mention, he was Robin, The Boy Wonder. He didn't kill his enemies. What would Bruce think if he knew?

With these thoughts running through his mind, he slowly allowed his shaky fingers to relax around her throat. For a hot second, the girl truly seemed grateful that he let her go, but her gratitude didn't last long as a cunning grin quickly found her face. "And to think, I once believed you would one day have the guts to ask for my hand in marriage." Then, she snorted and shook her head as if he was the most pitiful person she'd ever laid eyes on. "Even after I murdered your little girlfriend, you still do not have the testicles to kill me."

"But _I_ do." _Pow! Pow! Pow!_ Bullets suddenly pierced her right in the middle of her forehead, through her brain, and out the back. Her emerald eyes grew large as her long, womanly body collapsed to the ground on top of Beast Boy's motionless one. Robin swallowed a huge ball of fear and nerves and turned to discover his hero. To his surprise, it was Jason.

"Jason?" Robin called, as yet another oxygen-depriving cough rose in his throat. "I thought you bailed on me."

Jason moseyed over to stand by Robin's side before flashing him a small, sly grin. "I'm not that bad of a guy."

Then, out of nowhere, Jason raised the gun yet again. _Pow! Pow!_ He forced a bullet into Starfire and another into Beast Boy's seemingly dead bodies.

"What was that for?" Robin asked, his heart beating fast from the sudden, earsplitting, popping sounds of the weapon.

Jason hunched a carefree shoulder and dropped the gun to the ground. "Better safe than sorry."

"Is it okay to come out now?" Kid Flash's scared, shaky voice was heard from behind the fallen couch.

Robin placed a hand on his heaving chest and let out a pained chuckle, "Yeah, it is."

The boy's body shot up from the floor, a befuddled look riding his face. "What the hell happened here?!"

"Grayson, West, there you are!" Bruce made his way into the smoke-filled atmosphere, Diana and her camera boy, Clark, were following closely behind, much to his dislike. "We have to get you—Mr. Todd? Don't move! Hands above your head!" The older man ordered Jason, pointing his own gun at the boy he believed to be the cause of all this. Jason raised his hands above his head, proving that he wasn't a threat and praying that Bruce wouldn't fire.

"No, don't shoot!" Robin shouted before anything could happen. Then, he looked Bruce in his angry eyes and explained in an assuring voice, "He's not the killer. It was Kori and Garfield. Jason's actually my savior."

"So what you're saying is, you were the damsel in distress? And we're all the final guys?" Kid Flash asked, yet again, even more silly, inappropriate questions. When would he ever learn…?

Robin exhaled loudly as the sirens of ambulances and firetrucks could be heard in the background. "Kid, please not right now."

"Okay. Everyone calm down," Bruce said in a commanding yet fatherly tone. "Let's get you guys out of this smoke, let the paramedics check you out, and then we can discuss what happened."

"Make sure your first interviews are with me!" Diana pleaded like a true news reporter as they all began to make their way out of the dangerous building that was gradually beginning to crumble above them. Thankfully, at least the fire had died down.

But Robin never made it out with the others. As he was walking through the dark, grimy air, he almost tripped over a lump on the ground. When he glanced down to see what almost caused his fall, his heart actually fell. It was Raven's lifeless, soulless, and bleeding body lying there next to his feet. He couldn't hold back the wail that escaped from his mouth as he kneeled down to her side. He turned her over so that he could see her face, but was disappointed to see that her stunning, amethyst eyes that were usually filled with life were closed. Even in death, her beauty seemed ethereal and almost unreal.

"Raven," he cried as warm droplets slipped over the ledge of his eyelids and onto the top of hers. He slightly picked her up and held her tight in his arms as he rocked her back and forth like a colicky baby. The depression that had taken over his body was indescribable. What was the point of living when the only thing you were living for was gone? Was there even a point in going back to his actual dimension if all of his friends were dead? Were all of them even dead? He had no idea. And he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"Raven, you wouldn't believe the things I never got to tell you. I really _...really_ regret not telling you before," he moaned and sniffed before pulling her stationary face closer to his beating heart. He nudged his nose into the strands of her lavender-scented, black hair and just let all of his emotions pour out into them. Soon, her long locks were soaking wet with tears and snot as if she had just gotten out of the shower. The way she was lying in his arms reminded him of the time he'd caught her falling body after Slade had pushed her to her doom. But now, her eyes didn't open and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to go home. He'd always felt as if it was his duty to protect her and make sure she was safe, but this time he'd failed tremendously.

Out of nowhere, "Robin? Robin, are you there?" A distant voice reached out to him. He looked around and behind him, expecting to see Bruce or Kid Flash, but he only saw firefighters in the distance. He took one last glimpse at the angel that was in his arms and before he knew it, he was dropping to the ground into the lonely, black abyss that seemed to go beyond life right along with her.

 **-O-**

 **A/N: The End…just kidding :) I hope you guys liked that. In my head, this story was supposed to be like a satire of all of the main Titans' ships. Well, I pretty much only focused on the Rob/Star and Rob/Rae ships but I think you get where I'm coming from. I don't know if I succeeded, but either way hopefully you guys are satisfied with my choices for the killers lol. Two more chapters left…thanks for reading! Xoxo**

 _ **Lilac-Shimmer: I'll never be able to shock you lol. You know me too well. Starfire definitely had the biggest motive, so when you think about it, it was pretty obvious. I was going to go for some wacky killers, but I wanted them to have a motive that at least made a little sense. Oh, well lol. It's all in good fun :) Thanks for your thoughts as usual :):)**_

 _ **Zwaggerine: Gosh, you are so sweet! I'm glad I was able to shock you lol. As you can see, Starfire was there from the beginning and I tried to imply that she was the one who came up with this whole idea. I almost hated to kill Jinx, especially since I did want at least one female to survive, but someone had to die in the chapter lol. And for a moment I felt as if there wasn't enough actual RobRae moments in the story, so I added that little special moment :) Thank you so much for your thoughtful reviews and everything else. They mean the world to me. Love you too and thanks for reading!**_

 _ **argent82: Hope their reasons were good/crazy enough for you lol. It's so funny that you always seem to review right before I update. Thanks for reading ;)**_


	12. Remember the Titans

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans.**

 **12\. Remember the Titans**

 **-O-**

"Robin?"

"Dudes, I think he's waking up!" Robin heard familiar voices surrounding him as he slowly approached the light and whirlwind of consciousness. He struggled to fight the darkness that seemed to be holding him back from life. He fought and fought to open his eyes, but it almost felt as if there was something weighing them down, forcing them close. Finally, his eyelids slowly began to separate. He blinked a few times to get rid of the blurry film his eyes were casting and was faced with the scariest thing he could see at this point: green skin, bright, red hair, and two sets of happy, green eyes. All of those features belonged to Beast Boy and Starfire who were happily grinning and hovering over him with obvious eagerness.

Robin didn't know if they were excited because they had succeeded in waking him out of his peaceful slumber or if they were excited because they were getting ready to smother him. Starfire giddily clasped her hands in front of her, making him gasp in panic. They both eyed him funnily as he took in his surroundings and noticed that he seemed to be in the infirmary of the tower. Cyborg was there as well, walking over to him with a relieved smile riding his friendly face. He looked down and saw that he was being restrained to the cot he was lying in. Someone even had the nerve to remove his clothes and dress him in a flimsy, hospital gown. Suddenly, he felt as if he was being suffocated like someone was standing over him smothering him with a pillow. And he knew why. He had to get out of their presences as they were bringing him nothing but fear and anxiety.

To their surprise, he started springing forward trying his best to break the restraints that were doing a great job of holding him down. The terrified boy was sweating profusely and turning redder the more he tried to break free.

"Augh! LET ME OUT!" he screamed as the tough strips of fabric only succeeded in making him feel more suffocated.

They all looked at him with worried eyes. "Whoa, dude, calm down," Beast Boy said softly as he tried to force Robin still by his shoulders.

Robin head-butted him with all his strength, causing the boy to tumble to the ground in shock. "Get away from me, murderer! Let me out!"

"Ow," Beast Boy boyishly uttered from the ground, rubbing the new bruise on his noggin.

Droplets of salty water ran down Starfire's concerned face. "Robin, it is only us. Your teammates. We will not harm you."

He turned to her with livid, cerulean eyes staring her down behind his domino mask. "Yeah, right!"

"Man, what is your problem?" Cyborg asked, slightly annoyed with the way the boy was acting after being unconscious for so long. They had been working day and night to make sure he was okay and this was how he repaid them? By calling them murderers and acting like they were working for Trigon himself?

"I believe the blow to the head might have caused him to lose a few cells of the brain," Starfire harmlessly suggested behind her hand to Cyborg, causing Robin to growl like a small puppy with raging rabies.

He was beyond frustrated. Why would they confine him if they weren't trying to hurt him or stop him from fighting back? At this point, he couldn't tell if he was still in the alternate universe, back home, or worse, in hell with all of the evil and deceased versions of his friends. "Where am I? Why are you holding me hostage?"

"Dude," Beast Boy dragged as he continued to rub the aching spot on his forehead, "you're in the tower. Where else would you be?"

"And we only restrained you because you kept fighting in your sleep and rolling off the bed. We were just trying to help you," Cyborg added straightforwardly.

Robin looked them all in their faces as his chest heaved up and down. They seemed sincere and most importantly, _real_. Maybe they were telling the truth. His breathing was still frantic and heavy as he tried his best to calm down, but it was no use. He looked to his side and saw that there was another bed similar to his right next to him. It looked as if it had been used in recent minutes yet it was empty. In no time, his suspicion was reignited. "What have you done with Raven?"

"Friend Raven is in her room getting much needed rest," Starfire replied and placed a caring hand on Robin's trembling shoulder. "I assure you she is fine."

The sweating boy jerked his shoulder away, causing her to shriek in surprise. "Let me out _now_! I need to make sure she's okay for myself."

"Robin, you have to—"

" _ **Now**_ _!_ "

"Fine," Cyborg mumbled, defeated, and reached for the buckles to undo the straps on the cot. "If the man wants to be free, let him be free."

Robin wasted no time bursting out of the straps as Cyborg made them looser. He jumped off the bed, pushing through them all and making his way out of the cold infirmary. He sprinted down the hall in whichever way his limp body took him. As he ran and ran and eventually realized he was going in circles, he came to the conclusion that he no longer remembered his way around the huge tower. Had they really been gone that long or was his mind really just that fogged?

After accepting how confused and lost he was, he fell to his buckling knees on the hard floor in helpless frustration. That alternate universe had done something to the confidence and hope he was infamously known for. Now with all he'd been through, he couldn't do anything but accept the worst. He never gave up on anything before, yet he was so easily giving up on finding Raven's room. Part of him wondered if it was because he was just scared of her not being there. Seeing her hollow and soulless physique lying there in his arms really tugged at his heartstrings in the worst way possible. He didn't think he'd ever be able to live in complete peace and contentment if she wasn't there living and breathing with him, especially since it was his fault she didn't make it. The feeling of failure was calmly hovering over him without remorse.

"Raven," he croaked out to her, hoping that somehow, someway she could hear him. To his astonishment, he suddenly felt another presence coming near him. He anxiously stood up and looked all around, but no one was there; only his long shadow reflecting his figure on the wall. Then, out of nowhere, he started to feel this chilly, pulling sensation almost as if something was forcing him to follow it. He reluctantly obliged and softly treaded as the entity led him down the hall and up the staircase until he was on the floor that held all the rooms. As he walked towards Raven's chamber, it finally dawned on him that this wasn't just any presence. _It was his and her bond._ He had called out to it and it reached for him, helping him up and leading him to where he belonged: **with her**.

Without any hesitation, he punched in her access code that he somehow still remembered and barged into her usually off-limits room without her welcoming. He knew she was probably going to bite his head off for having the nerve, but he didn't care. He had to see her, touch her, and just feel her heart beating against his. For a second, his organs stopped when he didn't see her there amongst the creepy statues and furniture, but he relaxed when he saw the back of her rich blue cloak flowing calmly behind her as she meditated peacefully midair in front of her curtained window. He slowly walked over to her, bracing himself for her reaction, but she never flinched or budged. She was obviously in deep thought and probably somewhere talking to her emotions in Nevermore. But he didn't care if she was silent or unaware of his presence, all he cared was that she was alive and well.

As he approached her, he decided to open the curtains to let in some much needed sunlight into the depressing atmosphere. What he didn't realize was that the sunlight would now be highlighting her face, giving her an otherworldly, almost saintly appearance. Her pale skin was lit up with a healthy glow, her long, black eyelashes seemed more pronounced, and somehow her full, skin-toned lips seemed much softer and suppler. The short strands of her violet hair stood out the most to him. He hadn't realized how much he missed them while they were gone, but seeing them now just reminded him how he adored every intricate, unique detail about her.

On a whim, he took her shoulders and pulled her into a tight, needy hug. He was slightly hoping she didn't wake from the sudden movement. There was no telling how she'd react to the touching now that they were back home. He wasn't even sure if she had even really been in that other world with him anymore. And if she hadn't, he'd probably be experiencing a slap across the face pretty soon. When he slowly inched back, she was still sitting perfectly still in her lotus position with her eyes shut tight. He let out a sigh of relief and stared at all the crevices and details of her face from her thick eyebrows to her small, pointy nose and her straight, tempting lips. He had no idea what had taken him so long to realize his feelings for her. After all, he had gone through hell and back for her. He had told himself a million times that he would've done that for any of his friends, but he wasn't exactly sure if that was the truth. That had honestly been the scariest thing he'd ever witnessed and experienced in his life, yet he braved through it all for her, even without knowing if she was actually there. And he was beyond glad that he'd been stubborn and hopeful for the both of them.

As he continued to stare, he suddenly had the impulse to take advantage of her frozen state and give her a small peck on the mouth. He swallowed whatever fear he suddenly had and gradually inched forward, but before their breaths could even touch, her vivid, violet eyes popped open and pierced right through him.

"What exactly are you doing?" she growled softly through gritted teeth and dropped her feet to the ground, making her significantly shorter than him.

Robin shook himself out of his astonishment and took her into yet another smothering embrace. "Oh, thank God, you're okay." Then, he slightly pulled away from her, her shoulders still in his grip as he pleaded, "Please tell me you were there. Please tell me you saw everything that happened and despite the fact that none of it was real…what happened between us was. Please tell me I'm not crazy, Raven."

Raven watched him with concealed care in her eyes. He was beyond distraught and it shattered her usually apathetic heart. "You're not crazy, Robin. I was there. I saw all of our friends murdered and lifeless. I felt the malevolence that was brimming off Starfire and Beast Boy. I was there."

Robin finally dropped his hands and rubbed one on his moist forehead in confusion. "How…what…why? H-how did you survive? How did we get back home?"

Raven sighed a tired breath, grabbed his clammy hand, and lead him over to the edge of her queen-sized bed. "Even though it all felt very real, especially those three, hot bullets that pierced through my back," Robin winced painfully at the reminder of her untimely 'death', "none of it was. It was all just some sort of coma-induced dream you were having."

Robin's bottom lip detached from his top while his eyebrows narrowed under his mask. "But…but how? How were you there?"

To his surprise, the girl blushed a bright candy apple red and placed her hood over her head to hide the rare flush. "I think it had something to do with our bond. When Red X knocked you unconscious, somehow I was pulled into your subconscious with you. Probably because of our mind-meld."

"Oh, hehe," now it was his turn to blush as he chuckled apologetically and scratched the back of his perspiring neck, "sorry about that. Don't you think that was more of a nightmare than a dream, though?"

Raven smirked knowingly and scooted further back on the mattress so that she was able to bring her bony knees to her chest. "I think it was created by the suppressed emotions in your subconscious. I think maybe you had been…trying to push away or hide your feelings for me because deep down you're scared of how Beast Boy, Starfire, and maybe even our fans might react if they ever found out."

Robin squinted, slightly embarrassed, and simply asked, "Why do you figure?"

The dark one hunched a shoulder and said matter-of-factly, "Well, everyone knows that once upon a time Beast Boy had at least a tiny crush on me. You and Starfire were once inseparable. And all of our fans want you two to get back together. You just didn't want to disappoint or hurt anyone."

Robin exhaled loudly and contemplated what she'd said before taking her soft, feminine hand in his rougher one. "But what I was really doing was hurting myself. Denying us both of our happiness."

This time Raven squinted at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Robin closed his eyes to gather up all the courage he had left in his weak body. Then, he turned so that he was fully facing the small-framed girl with big, curious, amethyst eyes beside him. He gave her hand one tight, promising squeeze and anxiously breathed, "I-I…I love you, Raven. It took me literally fighting through a real-life horror film and losing you to fully realize that. But deep down, I've known all along." He paused and looked away from her shocked gaze for a second before meeting her eyes yet again. "You've been alone for so long, and I've been in this state of constant frustration from thinking I'd never have someone who really understands me. Someone who can really handle all my demons and love me with the same amount of passion as I do them."

"Robin," Raven started and removed her tiny fingers from his in a swift motion. He clutched his belly tight as he prepared for her to admit the worst. "I don't know what to say. I told you and showed you how I felt in that dream, but here I have powers. Powers that are hard to control with emotions as strong as love. It'll take a lot of work for me to be able to show you how I truly feel."

The shaking boy quickly grabbed her hand again and assured her with a small smile, "I'm willing to wait patiently. I'm not one for showiness anyway. As long as I know."

Raven smiled her own thin grin and fluttered shy eyelashes in his direction. "That's good to know."

Then, his content mood took a downfall as he remembered what had put them in this position in the first place. "Do you think Starfire and Beast Boy will care? I mean they seemed really angry and ruthless."

Raven shook her head side to side with confidence. "Beast Boy's still grieving over Terra. According to him, he's had an outpour of love from our female fans since her death."

"Wait, Terra's still dead?" Robin questioned, his heart suddenly feeling as if it collapsed.

Raven frowned gravely and uttered, "Yeah, that, unfortunately, happened in real life. I think her murder might've helped manifest your fear into some sort of slasher film. I talked to Cyborg and he said they found the killer. It was apparently some guy Slade had hired to carry a hit out on her."

"What? Have they found Slade?" he asked, his fist pounding his palm angrily. Since when had the evil villain upgraded to using hitmen as his apprentices?

Raven placed a calming hand over his determined fist, causing him to take a deep breath and relax. "No, he's still MIA right now, but we'll work on that as soon as you've gotten your rest."

Robin's face showed hesitation for a moment, but eventually he was smirking as he teased, "Right, Boss."

Raven cut her eyes at his immaturity and continued their earlier topic, "And about Starfire, well, apparently she found someone new while we were gone."

Robin lifted a surprised eyebrow. "Who?"

 _Knock, knock_ , someone knocked on the door. Turns out he was right on time. "Yo, Rob, the others said you were up, but they were scared to come check on you for some reason. Mind coming out?"

Robin's jaw broke off and dropped to his feet. "Kid Flash?"

Raven snickered dryly at his amusement. "Yeah, somehow your subconscious picked up on that, too. And he can actually stomach her food." Then, on a serious note, she suggested, "Maybe we should go talk to them. Tell them what happened, so they'll understand why we're acting so afraid of them. After all, it's going to take some time to get over them trying to murder us."

 **-O-**

"So, what you're saying is BB and Star were the killers because you were too chicken to tell them you have feelings for Raven?" Cyborg questioned as he tried to understand exactly what the two birds were telling them. Him, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Kid Flash were all sitting on the couch in the common room as the two of them stood in front of them telling all they'd been through.

" _Ahem_ ," Robin cleared his throat softly, slightly ashamed that he was opening up emotionally for the team to see, "Yes, essentially."

"I was the crazed murderer?" Beast Boy asked with excited doubt and a lifted eyebrow. Raven only nodded in annoyance as this was his fifth time asking in under three minutes. "Dude, that's so wicked!"

"Are you forgetting that your ex-girlfriend was just butchered by a crazed murderer?" Kid Flash said dumbly, his arms folded tiredly against his chest.

Everyone sent stabbing glares at him for his remark. "Seriously, KF?" Robin grunted, already frustrated with the fast-moving redhead. According to the team, he had stayed behind after the Titans East and honorary Titans returned back to their own homes so that he could help them out around the city since they were missing two members. Apparently, they all liked him enough to offer him a permanent spot on the team, much to Raven and Robin's dislike.

"What? It's true?" The redhead argued casually before taking a large bite of an apple none of them had seen him fetch.

Beast Boy slumped into his seat and breathed sadly, "He's right."

"How are you doing, Beast Boy?" Robin voiced his concern for the boy. "When we left you were storming off to your room every chance you got, now you're laughing and playing as usual."

"That's because I'm much better," Beast Boy assured him with an unconvincing smile. "Having all our friends around just really reminded me how lucky I was to have such a great support system. I'm still a little sad, but I'll get through it."

Robin eyed Raven for a reaction, but it was stoic, then turned back to his younger, green teammate. "That's great. I'm glad to hear that." Then, he added with vengeance in his tone and a pounding of his fist, "Don't worry we'll catch Slade and make sure he pays."

"Friends Raven and Robin," Starfire called before Beast Boy could reply. Her voice almost sounded sad and slightly guilty, "You do understand that we are your friends and we will never try to hurt you, correct?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, we know, Star," Robin rushed with a grin, Raven nodding in agreement by his side. "You're the nicest, sweetest person we know. You wouldn't even hurt an innocent fly."

Starfire casted her eyes at the carpet and then back up at the two as her new boyfriend wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Then, please do not be afraid of us," she asked gently. The two hesitated, knowing that letting go of their fear would take at least a few days, but they nodded anyway. A smile slowly formed on the girl's face before she said, "I am happy that you and Friend Raven have found love. I am hoping that Kid Flash and I can soon have the same type of affection and admiration for one another. It is a beautiful thing."

Raven and Robin's cheeks turned scarlet as they unknowingly scooted closer to each other with smug and satisfied looks in their eyes. If everyone approved that meant they had no reason to hide. Raven was going to work on controlling her emotions more and Robin was going to be right there by her side as she did so that they could fully enjoy the extent of their newfound love.

Suddenly, Kid Flash's playful voice broke the moment, "Don't worry, My Beautiful Firecracker, we will. We definitely will."

-O-

"Well, that went better than I anticipated," Robin breathed as him and Raven found their ways into his immaculate, barren room.

"I agree," she replied in her usual monotone as she inspected the room. She hadn't been inside his room much. In fact, the last time she had been inside was when she & the others were trying on his uniform. That was almost two years ago. Though they hadn't necessarily declared themselves in a relationship yet, she knew her time in this room would soon be much more frequent.

"Raven," Robin called from near his desk full of folders and paperwork on suspects who could've been responsible for Terra's murder and much more.

The petite girl made her way over to him, cleared away all the paper, and promptly threw it in the trash. There was no way she was about to let him stress himself about criminals and work after all they'd just been through. He needed a peaceful rest.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked softly. His voice sounded full of emotions but none of them were anger. They were something, that even as an empath, she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Raven lifted a shoulder before crossing her arms over her chest. "You need to rest. You're weak and hopeless right now. We need you to get back to the Robin we know. I need you to be yourself again."

Robin chuckled lightly to himself. She was blunt and toneless as usual, but he didn't mind at all. "Where would I be without you? My voice of reason."

The girl only flashed him a teasing smirk for an answer as he deliberately stepped closer to her. Then, he grabbed a forearm of one of her folded arms and brought her closer to him. "Raven, I never want to go through what Beast Boy went through with Terra. I think I can admit he's a stronger man than me, because I'd die if I lost you." Suddenly, he ceased his speech as a look of determination and ambition crossed his face. "I promise to always protect you and to make sure you're safe. No matter what."

Raven's sly smile stayed on her face as she deadpanned, "We're teammates, Robin. We protect each other every day. It's what we do." His lovesick eyes dropped to the floor in embarrassment, suddenly making her feel bad for calling him out on the obvious. "Plus, I already know the measures you'll go through to keep me safe. You've already literally gone through hell for me. What more can a girl ask for?"

Without even attempting to answer her with words, Robin slowly inched his quivering pink lips towards her own. Words couldn't even begin to describe the nervousness that was swallowing him whole as he let go of all his fears and gently touched her mouth to his own. The gentleness didn't last but a second as he felt the instant spark that had connected them to each other in the first place. He grabbed her by the back of her head, two fists full of her short, violet hair suddenly in his possession as he poured everything he had into her. Being an empath, she felt every emotion he had coming into her full force. Just seconds ago she couldn't understand what those emotions were, but now she was beginning to see that they were a strong mixture of fear, anticipation, a little desperation, relief, pure bliss, possessiveness, neediness, hope, and an exorbitant amount of passion and love. All of these feelings and his heart beating fast against hers sent chills up her spine, giving her goosebumps all over. She knew at this moment she never wanted to be without him. He truly loved her, and that was something she never thought she'd be able to experience in her lonely, dark existence.

To let him know that she really did feel the same, she hooked her arms around the back of his neck, bringing his breath closer to hers and deepening the kiss. Robin moaned, practically cried down her throat. He couldn't believe this was happening right now. Him and Raven—of all people—were standing in the middle of his room making out. He and Starfire had done it a few times before and had even occasionally made it to his bed, but nothing could match the outpour of emotions and the connection that was burning between him and the shorter girl right now. Best of all nothing was blowing up, which meant she was better at controlling her emotions than she thought. Nothing could ruin this moment except—

" _Ahem_ , nice outfit," a robotic yet somehow humanly voice stunned them from Robin's window. A lamp blew up in the corner from Raven being shocked as her and the boy separated to face the intruder. Unsurprisingly, it was Red X standing there on Robin's windowsill like he had been invited.

Robin looked down at his thin, hospital gown then back to Red X and growled, "Leave now. You're not welcome here. You've already done enough damage."

"Relax," Red X said calmly, hopping off the sill so that he was now standing amongst them. "I'm only here to apologize."

"You? Apologize?" Raven questioned with sarcasm and doubt, her eyes burning with distrust.

Somehow they knew he was smirking behind his mask as he teased, "Yeah, it's not impossible, you know."

That's when they finally noticed his hands were behind his back, possibly hiding another weapon to take them down. "Stop right there. Don't get any closer or I'll be forced to fight you," Robin ordered and reached for his utility belt, but quickly realized that he was once again out of uniform.

"Oh, you wanna know what's behind my back?" he pestered with a snicker. "Just a violet for the lady and a note for The Boy Wonder himself. Just little tokens to show how sorry I am."

"We don't need your pity gifts," Raven hissed, balling up her fists in anger.

"Calm down, Little Bird, it's the least I can do," he said and handed her a purple flower that was sitting perfectly on a long, green stem. "I always took you for a violet kind of girl. They match your eyes after all." Then, he handed a small, folded piece of paper to Robin. "For you, Chuckles."

"Who exactly are you?" Robin asked to the others' surprise. As the masked figure stood in front of him with his almost identical stature and snarky attitude, Robin still couldn't help but wonder if it was Jason.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Red X laughed softly and took a large step back. "Now, excuse me. The night is approaching and I have things to do. Sleep tight, Little Birdies." And with that, he disappeared right before their eyes.

Robin and Raven exchanged silent glances at the weird encounter. "Do you think it was Jason?" the boy asked his nonchalant lover.

"Honestly, Robin," she started in her signature blunt tone, "the world may never know." Then, she removed her cape, threw it to the side, and plopped onto Robin's bed in an effort to get comfortable. It was something she was going to have to get used to anyway, right?

Robin smiled at her openness and admired her womanly body. He didn't have time to worry about Red X when he had the sexiest woman he knew and the love of his life lying happily on his bed in all her glory. But he decided that, just for fun, he'd read the note anyway. What he didn't know was that from the few words on the slip, his question would be answered.

' _Please don't tell Dad- J.'_

 **-O-**

 **A/N: Hey, y'all. I know said I was back last chapter. Guess I lied haha. Didn't really know what to type, so this is what came out eventually. Hope it's decent enough. One last chapter, and it'll be significantly shorter than all the rest! Thank you guys so much for reading!**

 _ **Lilac-Shimmer: Of course, she wasn't really dead lol. I don't think I could ever kill off a main character, especially one of my favorites like Raven or Robin. And I thought it'd be sort of ironic to have Jason kind of sort of being the hero in the end. You're right, it's better to be safe than sorry. And, also, definitely true about the taking it to the max thing. Plus, who would kill everyone except Beast Boy? That's just a headache waiting to happen lol. Thanks for reading! You're extremely loyal and it means a lot to me :)**_


	13. Friday the 13th

_**A/N: First off, yes, I'm still alive lol. Second off, I'm so sorry, guys. It's literally been a month. I should've finished this chapter long ago, especially since it was just supposed to be a little something just so the story could end up being 13 chapters. Don't know why I wanted it to have 13 chapters. It just seemed to go with the whole Halloween theme. Anyway, it's nothing big. Hopefully, it's cool. I'm sure it's not worth a month's wait lol, but at least you guys know I'm back! For real this time… :)**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans or Friday the 13th.**

 **13\. Friday the 13th**

 **-O-**

It was a snowy, wintery, white night outside of Titans Tower. The weather felt as if it was below freezing temperature and the strong gusts of wind could be heard next to every window. It was the second Friday of the new year and the Titans were just glad that no bad guys had decided to brave the cold weather and force them out of the warmth and protection of their home. The only villain who would probably be evil enough to do so was Red X, but he'd laid low ever since his encounter with Raven and Robin that night. Robin had heard of him causing a little trouble in Gotham, then soon after heard through the grapevine, aka Tim, that Jason was now Alfred's personal henchman for six months after being punished by Bruce for some "unknown" reason.

But back to current issues. January had begun on a Sunday this year which meant that this particular second Friday fell on the thirteenth. You know what that meant, right? _Movie night at the tower_. Every single Friday the 13th, Beast Boy insisted they binge watch all of the movies in the horror franchise of the same name. Usually, a villain would interrupt them or the other four would bail on him after the first film, but after the turbulent year 2016 had been for them, they wanted to start the new year off with more team bonding time. So, they had invited Titans East over for a Jason Voorhees extravaganza.

Thankfully, Raven and Robin had mostly moved on from being placed dead center in a slasher-like nightmare. It had been a tough challenge, and one could even say Robin had developed some sort of PTSD-type symptoms that were so bad to the point that he couldn't even stand to be alone in a room with either Starfire or Beast Boy for weeks. For an even longer period of time, he had a recurring nightmare about him discovering his parents' dead bodies hanging from the ceiling of his room in the tower. It killed his spirit every time and caused him to show an emotional side of him the other three had never witnessed before.

With no surprise, Raven had been there with him every step of the way, picking him up when he fell, wiping his fallen tears when he cried, and holding him in her arms when he would tremble. She'd even taught him how to meditate and control his stressful emotions. She still had her own demons to fight and get over since living with her father and witnessing all of the satanic rituals he conducted only reminded her of the evil that lurked inside of her. However, the whole thing had almost been some sort of humbling experience. It reminded them that they were only human and had real emotions and real feelings. Just because they were superheroes, that didn't mean they weren't allowed to feel.

Thankfully, the whole sing-off part of the dream had provided some benefits in the real world. She was no longer as shy and reserved as she'd been before. She was a little more open with her teammates and even strangers. She even once participated in karaoke night with them, but it was only because someone at the party had spiked her punch. All bets said it was either Speedy or Beast Boy who'd done the deed, but it was something they all chuckled at now.

Speaking of Speedy, he sure was sitting a tad bit too close to Raven on the sofa as they prepared to watch the first movie in the series. "You know, Raven," he nudged her with his elbow and breathed softly to where only she could hear, "if Robin doesn't treat you right, I'm always one call away."

Raven nodded once in annoyance, her deep set eyes as blank as a clean sheet of copy paper. "That's good to know, Speedy."

"What makes you think I'm not treating her right?"

" _Eep!_ " Speedy practically blasted out of his seat like a rocket as Robin's voice crept up behind him. He turned to the black-haired boy with a cheesy grin on his reddened face and said casually, "Oh, no reason."

"Smart answer," Robin raised an eyebrow, then smirked before hopping over the ledge of the couch so that he was now sitting in the redhead's seat. Raven looked up from the book she'd been pretending to read and gave Robin the medium-size smile only he could force out of her. Robin returned the gesture before swiftly kissing her on her small, button nose. It was the small things that reminded them daily of how and why they loved each other so much. They just got one another and didn't have to do much to show their affection and connection.

" _Blagh_ ," Speedy playfully spat in disgust and moved to sit next to a bored Aqualad and an eager Mas y Menos (Bumblebee very rarely let them watch horror movies) on the loveseat.

"I am back with the popped corn, Friends! Shall we begin the movie?" Starfire screeched, startling everyone in the room as she flew in from the kitchen with two large bowls of butter lovers' popcorn. The smell caught them all by the noses in a good way, and in seconds, Speedy, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, and Cyborg were swallowing up their last pieces.

On the other hand, Raven was trying her best to calm Robin and his frantic breathing down. Starfire's words and arrival with the popcorn had sent him into one of his PTSD-like, panicky episodes as he remembered the green-eyed alien saying those exact words right after killing Jinx and right before attempting to kill him, Jason, and his love in his dream.

"It's okay, Robin," Raven uttered as she delicately massaged his shivering shoulder. None of the others really seemed to notice his current panic attack as they laughed and joked about their favorite scene from the movie. "It's not real, remember?" she tried to remind him. She knew today was going to be one of the rare, bad days he had. Usually, nowadays, he was the same as before any of it happened, but some days he was not so good. But one of their promises to each other was that they'd support each other through the good times and the bad times.

Robin tried his best to slow his breathing, but the anger rising in him made that a great challenge. "Tell that to my parents and Terra."

"Robin, listen to me," she began assertively, copping his sweaty chin in her hand. "You can't change the past. There was no way you could've prevented your parents' or Terra's unfortunate deaths. Stop blaming yourself for something you didn't have control over. It's just life."

"I know," he heaved a deep sigh, squeezing his eyes tight in humiliation as he did. "But can you truly say you're not scared? You can honestly admit that you don't feel an ounce of fear whenever you're alone with either of them? You mean to tell me you don't have nightmares about being plunged in the chest with a knife over and over again until you no longer exist?"

Raven stared at her passionate boyfriend and observed the heaviness of the distraught and exhaustion that was lurking on his good-looking face. "Yes, I'll admit, sometimes I get…uncomfortable." She paused as her fingers slowly crawled across the couch cushion to reach his firm thigh. She used every chance she could to remind him that she was right beside his side. "But how many times do I have to tell you? Especially after the whole _Wicked Scary 3_ ordeal and surviving your crazy, murder-filled nightmare, _I don't do fear_."

Robin suddenly tensed up, his jaw clenched tight and his feet planted firmly on the ground. "Yeah, but you're forgetting one extreme detail," he directed at her with a mumble and without even looking her in her face.

Raven drew her hand back from the warm body heat of his thigh and hid it under her cape for comfort. "And what is that?"

Then, he finally turned to face her with the most somber look she'd ever witnessed on someone whose eyes she couldn't even see. She could tell his mood was slightly dampened, but she could also see the loving and longing for her that was seeping from his face and body language. She knew then, whatever he was about to say hurt him because of how much he loved her.

"You didn't survive my nightmare," he finally forced, his voice breaking as he spoke.

Raven grimaced deeply as guilt suddenly swallowed her. How could she let that slip up happen? She knew the memory of her dying also haunted him ever since they'd gone through hell and back. It was something they never discussed, but she knew they would have to one day or he'd never truly move past it.

"Okay, quiet, everyone. The movie's starting!" Beast Boy—who was thankfully fully at peace now—exclaimed eagerly before plopping next to Star who was lying happily in the arms of her always ravenous, redhead boyfriend. Bumblebee and Cyborg were on the far opposite side of the sofa cuddling, while Raven and Robin were right in the center, trying their best to be okay with the thought of reliving a serial killer.

Moments later, "You guys okay?" Bumblebee's concerned voice asked as the harsh killings began on the screen.

Robin turned to her with a serious, upside down smile as his answer. Raven was leaning fearfully—though she'd never admit it—on his shoulder and closing her violet eyes to avoid the frightening, memory-provoking scenes. He could practically feel her trembling against him and breathing slowly to keep calm. He had no idea why she always tried to paint herself as if she wasn't scared. He figured she was just trying to stay emotionally strong, especially now for him since his recovery was taking much longer to cease. He knew exactly how she felt, but there was nothing wrong with being scared. The strongest, bravest people always have something they're afraid of. He was just as fearful, but at least they could be fearful together.

With this type of thinking, he found her hand under her cloak and pulled it into his lap. She looked up at him with big, confused eyes like she'd done on the loveseat at Wally's house in his dream. He loved that with all she'd been through, she could still manage to look so innocent and untainted. He gave her a small smile to which in return she replied with an even smaller, timid smile.

Then, he turned back to Bumblebee, who was still waiting on an actual, vocal answer and whispered proudly, "At first, my answer was _no_ , but now," he paused, giving the smaller woman next to him a tight, needy squeeze of her hand and finished, "it's _yes_. We have each other. Of course we're okay."

Bumblebee smirked, rolling her eyes at the lovey-doveyness that she often showed to Cyborg. It was definitely unusual and sort of endearing to see Raven and Robin sharing the same type of intimacy. "Good to know, Leader Boy."

" _Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!_ " A shrieking, frightful scream suddenly flooded the walls of the tower, causing everyone to jump in their seats. Somehow Speedy ended up tumbling to the ground causing the popcorn bowl to fly out of his hands and on top of Aqualad's head. The dark-haired boy glared at the redhead with eyes that could kill as butter ran down the side of his face and popcorn kernels stuck to the ends of his black strands.

"Hehe, sorry," Speedy chuckled in fear for his life and shielded himself with one of the laughing twins.

"Dudes, what was that?!" Beast Boy reminded everyone of the scream as he held onto Raven's arm for dear life.

"It sounded like a scream from the film," Starfire reasoned with nervousness on her tongue. Her and Kid Flash were squeezing each other in fear. The others couldn't tell who was more scared.

Suddenly, the lights and the television flickered causing a quick shadow of darkness to sweep over them. Then, in no time, all of the power had died down, leaving them in pitch black coldness and silence.

"Eek!" they all heard Starfire shriek.

"I got you, Babe," Kid Flash's shaky, obviously scared voice came next in the darkness.

" _Chh, chh, chh…ha, ha, ha…kill, kill, kill, mom, mom, mom…._ " Strange noises filled their ears.

Cyborg gulped loudly enough for everyone to hear, then turned on the flashlight on his arm to see the frightened looks on all of their faces. "Don't tell me that's—"

"Jason Voorhees!" Beast Boy cried out, his whole body shivering as if he was standing in the middle of a deadly blizzard.

Raven sank low in the couch, suddenly embarrassed. Robin took notice of this and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "It's happening again, isn't it?" The violet haired girl just nodded ashamedly, never looking up from the carpet as she did.

"What's happening again?" Aqualad questioned for his teammates and Kid Flash since they had no idea what the two were referring to.

Out of the blue, Beast Boy's frightened demeanor quickly turned to one of eager anticipation. "No way! The _Wicked Scary 3_ thing is happening again, but this time with Jason Voorhees?!"

"I'm afraid so," Raven breathed in an annoyed monotone. This type of situation wasn't as fun for her as it was for Beast Boy.

"Awesome!" he screamed with the pump of his fist. "Don't admit you're scared yet, Raven. Living the movie is much better than watching the movie for the hundredth time! Come on, guys. Let's split up and play run from the killer!"

Raven and Robin both groaned in sync as the others hopped up from the couches, laughing and joking about who would get killed first. The two birds stayed planted. Raven because she was slightly embarrassed; Robin partly because he wouldn't leave her alone and partly because he couldn't wait to say I told you so.

"Go on. Just say it already," she deadpanned and crossed her arms over her slow moving chest.

Robin smirked, but it didn't hold much girth since she already knew what he would say. "I thought you didn't do fear."

Raven glanced up at him with a blank face, but the moment her amethyst eyes fell on his handsome, confident smirk, she couldn't help but smirk back. "What can I say?" She hunched a shoulder. "We all get a little scared sometimes."

All at once, the lights and power flickered back on, highlighting the slight, happy beams on both of their faces. "Aww man! Raven!" they heard Beast Boy cry out somewhere in the tower.

They both laughed out loud at his silliness. "There's nothing wrong with being scared, Raven. Trust me I had to learn that the hard way. You've risked your life for us numerous times. You're honestly the bravest person I know."

"I know, Robin," she droned with no emotion as usual. Then, she took it upon herself to fall into his chest, bringing a strong whiff of lavender and honey with her. He wrapped his arms around her neck and hair and pulled her closer, but the moment he did, a disappointed Beast Boy burst through the double doors with the others following closely behind. But this time, the two birds didn't pull away from each other in embarrassment as they often did.

"Come on, Raven! You ruined the fun!" the green boy cried out as a sheepish smirk slowly found the girl's face once again.

And all she could manage to say was, "Hehe, sorry."

 **-O-**

 **A/N: Finally, the end. Maybe I should've ended it last chapter, but I kind of sort wanted to show how they were doing months later. If anyone's up for it, I'm planning a Red X aka Jason and Raven fic. I'm probably starting the first chapter right after uploading this. I'm done with school for a month, so hopefully I can upload a lot. I've been a little unmotivated and not very creative lately. Maybe the RedX/Rae story can change that. Also, someone requested I do like a sequel to the Bunny Raven episode. That was over a month ago, so I'm not sure if they still want me to, but if so, I'll be working on that too. I'm just stuck on ideas for that one and the person didn't request any particular situations or couples, so I'm lost on which ones I should include. Ideas usually just come to me all at once, so it's sort of hard coming up with something I didn't think of. Anyway, if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! Xoxo :)**

 _ **Lilac-Shimmer: Aww love you too :) I always try to work in what the readers want to read. Your thoughts and suggestions definitely help. That one definitely helped me figure out what to do for Starfire because I wanted to make sure she was okay, too. So thank you! Slade will always be the worst :( In a way, it's all his fault. If Terra hadn't died, Robin's coma-dream probably wouldn't have been so horrible. Red X/Jason is awesome, and I can't wait to actually be able to play around with him as a serious character. And, of course, Batman would be the one person able to not only catch him, but also get him to be a butler as punishment lol. Thanks for the review! Words can't explain how awesome you are :)**_

 _ **Zwaggerine: Sorry for disappearing for so long. I definitely wouldn't give up though :) I like finishing what I start. That kiss was undeniably long overdue. Jason ruins everything right? But that's why he's so awesome haha. Thank you so much for all your kind words and dedication. Hopefully, you'll be in tune for the other fics. Btw, I love that Mercy song now. Great recommendation :) Thanks for reviewing!**_


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